AIA Healthcare Awards - Boston, Bethesda, Nairobi, Georgia

NBBJ designed the new Lunder Building, a 535,000-square-foot (50,000-square-meter) hospital building on the campus of Massachusetts General Hospital. Photo: Courtesy AIA

Four buildings have been named recipients of this year's AIA/ AAH Healthcare Design Awards, one in each of four awards categories. The projects include a hospice facility in Albany, Georgia, a major new building for Massachusetts General Hospital, a Bethesda, Maryland facility for researching and treating traumatic brain injury, and a planned medical center for Nairobi, Kenya.

Chicago-based Perkins+Will designed two of the four winning projects.

Lunder Building, Boston, Massachusetts

The five-story atrium of the Lunder Building. Photo: Courtesy AIA

The Lunder Building is a high-tech, flexible structure designed to advance Massachusetts General Hospital, in Boston, Massachusetts, into a third century of care. Designed by NBBJ, the 535,000-square-foot  (50,000-square-meter) building houses procedural programs, 150 inpatient beds, progressive technologies, and new emergency and radiation oncology departments.

Located on a compact urban site in downtown Boston, the building, split into a procedural program base and an upper bed tower, is also linked to five adjacent facilities. A key design element was connections to natural light and gardens; a five-story atrium garden connects all patient floors.

A medical floor of the Lunder Building. Photo: Courtesy AIA

The Lunder Building is predominantly clad in a variety of glass-and-steel curtain-wall systems. The building's four-story base is relatively uniform in its detailing, and implements vertical glass fins across much of its surface. The upper floors are divided into blocks with somewhat different in facade detailing, seemingly to express the distinct functions of each piece.

National Intrepid Center of Excellence (NICoE), Bethesda, Maryland

SmithGroupJJR designed the National Intrepid Center of Excellence, in Bethesda, Maryland. Photo: MacKenzie

SmithGroupJJR designed the National Intrepid Center of Excellence (NICoE), located in Bethesda, Maryland. This new center is designed to advance the research, diagnosis, and treatment of traumatic brain injury (TBI)—a complex injury that results in a broad range of cognitive, physical and psychological disabilities—post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other complex psychological health issues.

The 72,000-square-foot (6,700-square-meter) NICoE was designed around a new operational model in rehabilitation medicine that focuses care around the patient, using a multidisciplinary clinic concept that seamlessly integrates next-generation clinical and research technologies, including advanced imaging and virtual reality environments, as well as deeper family involvement. The center is intended to be a prototype for similar military and civilian TBI centers worldwide, and will serve as the primary hub of a network of satellite clinics now under development. 

An upper-floor lobby space in the NICoE. Photo: MacKenzie

The two-story building, whose plan generally inscribes a rectangle, is organized in two major programmatic parts: an L-shaped section, that contains all medical diagnostic, treatment, and office spaces; and attached to the inner edges of the L, a more free-form space, with a curving exterior wall, that comprises a series of lobbies surrounding shared facilities, such as an auditorium, lounge, and other gathering places. The building's sinuous facade is detailed to emphasize verticality, alternating between glazing and beige-colored panels. 

Willson Hospice House, Albany, Georgia

Perkins+Will designed the Willson Hospice House in Albany, Georgia. Photo: Jim Roof Creative, Inc.

Perkins + Will designed the new 18-inpatient Willson Hospice facility for Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital (PPMH). Located in Albany, Georgia, the building allows the hospital to expand its outreach in southwest Georgia. PPMH built on 25 years of success in its 11-county travelling home care hospice program in the creation of the 34,000-square-foot (3,200-square-meter) structure, whose modest building forms and scale make the structure seem approachable.

A patient room in the Willson Hospice House. Photo: Jim Roof Creative, Inc.

Building upon the educational and recreation appeal of its new sustainable campus of 210 forested acres (85 hectares), Willson seeks to be part of a new holistic healthcare model. The facility, finished in wood, stone, and glass, extends its wings into the landscape, forming courtyards. The LEED Silver-certified building was also designated an Audubon International Signature Silver Sanctuary.

The living room of the Willson Hospice House. Photo: Jim Roof Creative, Inc.

Kenya Women and Children's Wellness Center, Nairobi, Kenya

The unbuilt Kenya Women and Children's Wellness Center in Nairobi, Kenya, designed by Perkins+Will. Image: Perkins+Will

The unbuilt Kenya Women and Children's Wellness Center is a second winning project designed by Perkins+Will. Located on the campus of the United States International University, the Kenya Women and Children's Wellness Centre will be a state-of-the-art healthcare facility. The project is composed of several facilities in a campus setting that share a common goal of advancing wellness in the community.

The program includes a 170 bed hospital, Women and Children outpatient clinics, an Institute of Learning, Gender Violence Recovery Center, Family village, and a Forensics Laboratory. The buildings' design and massing respond to the construction methods and climate in Kenya. Large overhangs on the north and south facades accommodate sun-shading, while solid east and west end walls minimize direct solar radiation. And taking advantage of Kenya's temperate weather, the buildings are naturally ventilated.

Aerial rendering and section drawing of the Women and Children's Wellness Center. Image: Perkins+Will