The Healthcare Environment Awards—presented by The Center for Health Design in partnership with Healthcare Design magazine—recognize facility designs that enhance experiences, increase organizational efficiency, improve safety, and positively affect outcomes. Each year, participants submit projects in such categories as acute care, ambulatory care, long-term/assisted living, behavioral health, conceptual design, and student design work.
The 2023 winners were celebrated during an awards ceremony at the most recent Healthcare Design Conference + Expo in New Orleans. Here’s a quick look at the three winning built projects along with the student winner.
Credit: Jono Parker (The Husi)
Te Hushi Raupō – Taranaki Base Hospital Renal Unit
Submitted by Warren and Mahoney and Te Whatu Ora – Health New Zealand
This renal dialysis clinic in New Zealand serves nearly 400 patients within a sustainability-focused space just over 2,600 square feet in size. Targeting Net Zero Energy Certification and Zero Carbon Certification, Te Huhi Raupō features a locally sourced mass timber structure, solar panels, and reclaimed timber cladding, along with a reserve osmosis water treatment plant. Looking to provide a comfortable, welcoming atmosphere for patients, the design team paid considerable attention to daylighting, privacy, air quality, acoustics, and thermal performance. North-facing windows offer views of the sea and landscaped surroundings.
Image: Te Hushi Raupō – Taranaki Base Hospital Renal Unit.-13
Credit: Jono Parker (The Husi)
Credit: Nigel Young © 2022 PennFIRST (Pavilion)
The Pavilion At The Hospital Of The University Of Pennsylvania
Submitted by PennFIRST (HDR, Foster + Partners, L.F. Driscoll, BR+A, Balfour Beatty)
The 1.5 million-square-foot Pavilion, the largest capital project in the University of Pennsylvania’s history, made an appropriately big splash when it opened in 2021. Built by an integrated project delivery team, the 17-story inpatient building earned USGBC LEED v4 Gold Healthcare certification—the largest project in the world to do so. Painstaking mock-up events, the use of prefabrication during construction (accounting for about 25 percent of materials), a focus on patient comfort, and hospitality-inspired interiors all played a role in shaping this monumental achievement.
Credit: Halkin Mason Photography (Community of Hope)
Community Of Hope Family Health & Birth Center
Submitted by Gensler and Community of Hope
As the only freestanding birthing center in Washington, D.C., the Family Health and Birth Center (run by the nonprofit Community of Hope) provides critical services for low-income families in the area. Its new facility offers a more welcoming and homelike experience than typically found in urban healthcare centers, with low, open reception desks; soft architectural curves; and vibrant local artwork. The space—a former 1960s office building—accommodates 14 patient exam rooms on the first floor, plus two birthing suites, counseling rooms, a multipurpose community room, and pharmacy on the second. A third floor was added to the building to provide room for staff offices and a call center.
STUDENT DESIGN WINNER: AGING IN COMMUNITY
Credit: © 2023 Helen Herget and Anna Kubiak (Aging in Community)
Submitted by TU Vienna, Helen Herget and Anna Kubiak
This student concept aims to serve people with dementia, with mixed-use structures enabling them to age in familiar surroundings over a long period of time. Sited within an existing neighborhood with easy access to public transportation and a nearby hospital, the proposed community would allow residents to remain well-connected to loved ones.
Additional Healthcare Environment Awards
Conceptual Design Winners:
Reviving Care: Evidence-Based Mindful Design to Combat Burnout, submitted by the University of Florida and Perkins&Will
Papillio Domos: Children’s Hospice, submitted by Little Diversified Architectural Consulting
Student Design Honorable Mention:
Cardiac OR and Inpatient ICU Unit, submitted by Kent State University, Yasmin Faisal
For more details on these projects, visit healthdesign.org.
Kristin D. Zeit is a contributing editor at Healthcare Design and can be reached at kristinzeit@gmail.com.
