There are now about 600 U.S. facilities affiliated with hospitals, and another 400 will be built in the next five years. Demand is coming primarily from baby boomers that want to invest in their health, maintain the quality of their lives and remain active into later life.
Ellerbe Becket worked in conjunction with Hays Medical Center, the leading hospital in northwest Kansas, to design the US $15 million Center For Health Improvement. The 90,000 sq.ft. (8,361 m2) center will provide support to those who need medical care, health improvement and disease prevention. The facility also houses community education spaces and student locker rooms for high school swim meets.
“The architecture provides a welcoming environment by drawing upon the regional and local character of building design,” said Ellerbe Becket Associate and Senior Interior Project Designer Christine Hester Devens. The exterior’s playful collection of forms recalls outbuildings in the rural Kansas landscape, including a barn-red silo (Education Area) and galvanized metal siding. The building’s interior sports an energetic mix of bright colors, exposed ceilings and skylights.
The ground floor focus is the fitness center, which includes a cardiac rehabilitation room, fitness training areas, indoor basketball/volleyball court, an aquatics center, child care center, resource center and patient and community education room. The first floor also houses an orthopaedics practice, physical/occupational therapy and cardiology center. A Juice Bar at the Fitness Center Lobby provides a comfortable space for a healthy snack and includes outdoor patio seating.
The second floor houses offices for physicians that specialize in pain management, sleep disorders and complementary medicine, and provides strength training, aerobics, and a walking track for fitness members and patients. The track overlooks the gym, pool area, lobby and outdoor landscape, adding interest to the workout experience.
Hays Medical Center is one of a number of health care organizations turning to Ellerbe Becket to oversee design and construction. The firm used an integrated process to manage the project from conceptual design through construction. Working closely with the owner’s representative from the beginning of design through the completion of the construction documents, Ellerbe Becket was able to focus design and financial resources on areas of particular importance to the client.
“By closely integrating the work of the design and construction teams with that of the client project teams, Ellerbe Becket provided a phased occupancy plan which was responsive to both the clients’ needs and their commitments to tenants and prospective health club members,” said Ellerbe Becket Principal David Hill.
Another advantage to the integrated design and construction process, according to Hill, is that it enabled Ellerbe Becket to respond more quickly and cost-effectively to the client’s desire for changes to the facility as the construction process unfolded.
An innovator since its founding in 1909, Ellerbe Becket is a leader in architecture, engineering and the construction industry with office locations worldwide.
