Jefferson Health by EwingCole: 2017 Best of Year Winner for Health Care
A word commonly bandied about in hospitals, clinical is rarely a compliment when it comes to design. Luckily that, yes, sterile aesthetic is conspicuously absent throughout this ambulatory care center. At 100,000 square feet, the building is the largest piece of a $200 million expansion.
Director of design Saul Jabbawy’s biggest challenge, aside from that of creating a vibe that’s natural and nurturing, was to establish a unified entry for the growing complex, including a tower planned for phase two. The solution came to Jabbawy out of the clear blue sky: a 22,000-square-foot atrium, soaring five stories high. “The series of cascading tiers overlooking a central public space is based on the notion of an Italian hill town,” he explains.
In that piazza, so to speak, greeters stand at podiums resembling tree trunks. Along the ascent from here, the woody surfaces of acoustical tile punctuate the white walls, as sunlight bounces off them. Radiating outward from the atrium are public and private spaces, such as waiting areas with hotel-worthy furnishings or consultation rooms concealed by silk-screened glass. “The more intimate spaces are treated like found objects,” he adds. Outside, the newly landscaped grounds include a garden between old and new structures. It’s a link between past and present, a hint of more to come.
Project Team: Mark Hebden; Patrick Sinel; Holynn Wallace; Caitlin DiMarzio; Joseph Wood; Alexandra Bonner; Peter Franke; Melinda Kulynych; Dan Kolowitz; Carl Sparoff IV; Bruce Falkenstein; Jaime DeLaRosa; Colleen Blackwell; Karan Hoffman; Taylor Wright; Colleen Mulligan.
> See more from the December 2017 issue of Interior Design
> See all 2017 Best of Year winners and honorees
