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UAB Health Medical West Hospital

Project

UAB Health Medical West Hospital A Transformative Environment with a Touch of Southern Hospitality

Bessemer, Alabama

The Challenge

UAB Health Medical West replaces a 1960s hospital with a modern, experience-centered facility that serves rural communities. The project goal was to design a warm, inviting and technologically advanced care environment within a tight budget and enable new ways of operating and delivering care.

HKS’ collaborated with local design partner, KPS, who had previous experience with UAB, to build trust with the tight-knit staff and develop an approach for designing a warm, comforting environment that exuded the southern hospitality they are known for.

The Design Solution

The design team embraced the unique natural qualities of the site’s pond, trees and steep terrain. Trails for walking and running around the pond and throughout the campus help connect the greater community to a health and wellness destination. The building’s fully glazed exterior reflects the 125-foot pine trees and natural wetlands surrounding it, eliciting a sense of oneness with nature.

The southern hospitality-inspired interior design includes a front porch atmosphere in the lobby, complete with rocking chairs and views outside. Warm wood tones and stonework serve as a base, and each floor features distinct botanical elements of native plant species and complementary color palettes.

The Cahaba lily — a rare species of spider lily that blooms for only two weeks each May and grows in running water — is featured throughout the ground floor and lobby. The team hired a plant life photographer to take pictures of the blooms and other native plant species to correspond with each floor’s theme. The budget only allowed for one image per floor, so the team selected the perfect photo that could be cropped in various ways for printed glass, wall graphics and artwork.

The lobby’s ceiling features petal-shaped lights and long curved panels that mimic the Cahaba lily. The shape is then reflected onto the floor pattern just as it would reflect onto the running water where they grow. The botanical graphics that distinguish each floor offer warming pops of color that can lift a person’s mood — a crucial outcome of biophilic design strategies in often stressful health care settings.

“When you walk into this hospital it’s really jaw-dropping but in this really welcoming and warm way.”

Dr. Cynthia Brown, OBGYN, UAB Medical West

The Design Impact

The staff family is extremely proud of the new facility and are actively putting in place new ways of working and delivering patient care for the rural communities surrounding Bessemer, Alabama.

Project Features


Nexus Recovery Center

Project

Nexus Recovery Center

Dallas, Texas

The Challenge

Nexus Recovery Center, a non-profit established in 1971, has been at the forefront of providing comprehensive treatment and support to women battling substance abuse. Initially focused on rehabilitation, Nexus has evolved to offer a wide range of services including therapy, life skills training, childcare, and wellness treatments. The primary challenge in creating the Doswell Building was to develop a space that could simultaneously address the diverse needs of its occupants and integrate a variety of programs within a single facility. This task required reconciling the need for both public engagement spaces and private, contemplative areas within an optimized environment.  

The Design Solution

The Doswell Building’s innovative design solution encompasses a dual-configuration approach, dividing the structure into two distinct yet interconnected segments through a central courtyard. The courtyard serves as both a divider and a unifier, where one side caters to the community with amenities like a large circle drive, community rooms, and a vibrant social hub, while the other side provides a tranquil space for admissions and dorms.  

The master plan for the campus integrates natural elements, redefines the campus’s focal point, and establishes a new primary entrance. The use of modest materials—concrete, timber, and stainless steel—along with strategic glazing, creates a space that feels secure yet open, dignified yet unassuming. The building’s exterior incorporates natural elements and sustainable practices, from the courtyard’s sanctuary-like atmosphere to the façade’s tree-inspired patterns, emphasizing the connection between the built environment and the healing process. 

The project emphasizes a strong connection to nature, featuring landscapes designed to withstand the harsh North Texas summers with gravel beds, rocks, and drought-resistant vegetation, minimizing irrigation needs. A significant budget allocation supports stormwater management, introducing a large detention pond and bioswales to control runoff, enhancing campus safety and protecting nearby residential areas. 

Phase II of the project involves creating new facilities for the Pregnant and Parenting Women and Children program and a Child Development Center. The dorms will expand to 30 rooms with private accommodations for moms and babies, along with community kitchens and increased staff to provide better care. The Child Development Center will be relocated to a larger facility with increased capacity and additional trained teachers and therapists.

The Design Impact

The Doswell Building is designed to become a new cornerstone for a diverse range of occupants, offering a dual configuration that cleverly balances public interaction and private reflection. By offering a space that embodies dignity, security, and community, the building plays a crucial role in supporting women and families, providing them with a safe and welcoming environment. Through its thoughtful multifaceted approach, the Doswell Building represents a design that is both inviting to the public and supportive of the residents’ journey to recovery.

Project Features


Dell Children’s Medical Center North Campus

Project

Dell Children’s Medical Center North Campus A Pediatric Care Destination

Austin, Texas

The Challenge

To keep pace with the growing Central Texas population, Dell Children’s Medical Center is expanding with a new north campus that will be the first pediatric hospital in Williamson County. This campus will provide comprehensive health, wellness and emergency services in a child-friendly environment.

The HKS design team was challenged to develop a space that would continue to position Dell Children’s as a leader in pediatric health care, recruit world-renowned talent, and create a destination for programs poised for national prominence.

The Design Solution

Working in partnership with Dell Medical School at The University of Texas and community physician partners, the hospital will attract medical professionals who specialize in pediatrics. As a designated safety net hospital and Level III trauma center, the hospital will treat any type of illness regardless of ability to pay.

Dell Children’s will continue to develop groundbreaking programs such as fetal care, pediatric congenital heart services, which completed its first heart transplant at the main campus in 2020. Future programs may include a genetics and rare disease center.

Building upon the identity of the existing campus, the exterior design for the new hospital continues a story of connection to care and community. The exterior uses the same color tones, limestone brick and a tower that features a coronet inspired by the Daughters of Charity, who started a hospital in Austin in 1902 that would later become Dell Children’s. The interior design also mimics the look and feel of the main campus, creating a familiar and welcoming place for children and families to heal. It is an extension of the surrounding landscape, with large windows and spaces optimize natural light promoting health and wellness. Floor patterns evoke nearby karsts or watering holes and large-scale graphics depict local landscapes. Each floor is represented by a different theme and color to help with wayfinding.

The Design Impact

Dell’s Children’s Medical Center North Campus will be the first pediatric hospital in Williamson County, a vibrant fast-growing suburb of Austin. It is a destination for all levels of pediatric care by strengthening existing specialties and developing additional pediatric complex care programs. It ensures that children and their families never need to leave the Austin area for their critical care needs.

Dell Children’s Medical Center is part of a $1 billion investment in healthcare infrastructure for Central Texas. Since 2020, HKS has designed more than 800,000 square feet (74,322 square meters) of expansion space for Dell Children’s Medical Center at Ascension, including two parking garages.

Project Features


CyrusOne Headquarters

Project

CyrusOne Headquarters New World Headquarters Connects Staff and Boosts Efficiency

Dallas, Texas, USA

The Challenge

CyrusOne sought to establish a new world headquarters to promote operational efficiency, increase staff connection, and recruit and retain top talent. The data company tasked global design firm HKS with designing the new office space to enable employees to do their best work, embody the company’s rich culture and be a business catalyst for years to come.

The Design Solution

Initial test fits of various office spaces identified an ideal location for the headquarters on the top floors of the Harwood No. 10 building in Dallas’ Harwood District — a 50,000-square-foot (4,645-square-meter) space featuring a penthouse level with 360-degree views of Downtown and Uptown Dallas. Rather than working within the given framework of inherited office space, CyrusOne identified the company’s unique attributes and key priorities to ensure the new space speaks to the character of the organization and its values. 

Both company leadership and general staff embarked on a workplace strategy process to identify the organizational roles, work processes and organizational culture that would make the build-out of the office space uniquely CyrusOne. Work sessions, an employee survey and focus groups to discuss survey results generated a data-informed approach to workplace design and planning. 

A communicating stair connects the three floors to encourage a higher rate of collaboration and use of the amenity space and conference center located at the penthouse level. With ample seating and easily detachable technology, the breakroom is a café and small event space. All-hands meetings can flow out of the large training room into the café space and even onto the outdoor terrace. Bench seating at the base of the communicating stair and coffee stations at the east and west ends of the building serve as landmarks that support additional opportunities to form organic connections.  

Formal meetings can be held in the office’s large conference spaces or training room. The training room features classroom-like seating and presentation capabilities, while one conference room can be configured into three smaller meeting spaces with operable partition walls. The other large conference space is a boardroom-style space lined with floor-to-ceiling windows.  

One of the office’s hallways is home to custom touches that represent the brand’s culture and identity. CyrusOne’s “Rules of the Road” mottos are highlighted on a wall adjacent to a long wire memo board that showcases postcards and items such as a baseball cap that are important to the company’s identity.  

The Design Impact

CyrusOne’s world headquarters is a meaningful space for the company as it continues to grow its international business in the data center marketplace. The project embodies the CyrusOne brand and work experience as a result of extensive engagement with employees and leadership.  

Project Features


HKS Structures Team Talks With Green Building & Design Magazine on Sustainable Concrete

Cosm

Project

Cosm Amplifying Experience with Shared Reality

The Colony, TX & Hollywood Park, CA

The Challenge

Cosm and HKS endeavored to design venues that offer fans a revolutionary way to experience sporting, entertainment, educational and cultural events through innovative technology and viewing environments.

The Design Solution

Cosm is an entertainment, media and technology company that is changing the way people experience digital media, live entertainment and sporting events.  HKS and Cosm collaborated to create two venues where viewers can enjoy Cosm’s innovative immersive technology.

One venue is in HKS-designed Hollywood Park, the Inglewood, California site of the firm’s renowned SoFi Stadium. The second venue is in The Colony, Texas, a Dallas suburb. The two sites blend digital and physical experiences in what Cosm terms “shared reality.” The architecture and technology combine to make viewers feel like they have front-row seats at a live event, are personally visiting a cultural site or natural wonder, or are traveling through space in real time. Both Cosm locations are designed to offer live immersive sports streaming, concerts and cultural events, immersive exhibits, educational content and more.

Each Cosm venue comprises three main components: the Dome, the Deck and the Hall.

The Dome features a massive, curved screen inspired by Cosm’s more than 75 years of experience building planetariums and science centers. The screen’s brightness – 100 times that of a standard planetarium – provides enough light during a presentation for people in the Dome to stand up, move around and enjoy a communal experience. The Dome includes lounge-type seating as well as food and beverage services.

The Hall, which is adjacent to the Dome, features multiple seating tiers and a curved, 150-foot-by-15-foot LED display. A bar area, DJ booth and VIP lounge with elevated finishes and furnishes enhance this area. The Deck is a large rooftop space that offers panoramic views and comfortable seating where people can relax and enjoy the outdoors.

The Design Impact

Combined with SoFi Stadium, the Hollywood Park Cosm provides West Coast visitors with access to two of the world’s most exciting and innovative entertainment venues in one location, while The Colony location will take its place alongside other popular entertainment sites in North Texas such as HKS-designed AT&T Stadium and Globe Life Field. The seamless sharing of the physical and digital experience democratizes access to global events and provides educational and cultural opportunities for communities around Cosm venues.

The Colony, TX
The Colony, TX

Project Features

Hollywood Park, CA
Hollywood Park, CA
Hollywood Park, CA

Chris DeRosa

Case Studies

Clint Nash

Case Studies

D Magazine: Major League Cricket (MLC) is Coming to North Texas!

Eric Alvarado

University Hospitals Ahuja Medical Center Phase 2

Project

University Hospitals Ahuja Medical Center Phase 2 Expanding with Flexibility

Beachwood, Ohio

The Challenge

University Hospitals has worked with HKS since 2007 and developed a master plan for its Ahuja Medical Center campus with a flexible growth strategy that allows the public and service spines to expand incrementally, from 144 beds up to 600 beds. Phase 1, completed in 2010, included a 375,000-square-foot full-service hospital. However, the emergency department quickly outgrew its space, and there was a need for sports medicine and dedicated men and women’s services and surgical expansion within the community.

In addition, the original master plan called for building growth to expand to the northeast of the site. But that area had become a place of respite for staff and visitors with a retention pond and walking paths. So as planning for Phase 2 began in 2016, the HKS design team adjusted the original master plan from an inpatient focus to also include inpatient and outpatient services and find a new location for the buildings that nearly doubled the size of the campus.

The Design Solution

The design team located the Phase 2 expansion northwest of the site adjacent to the existing hospital in two new buildings. A South Pavilion is purposely located 40 feet from the existing hospital to create a healing garden and staff respite space, which also allowed the existing hospital windows to remain and the new South Pavilion to have windows as well. The programs include a new expanded emergency, surgery with central sterile processing, materials handling expansion, mother-baby and NICU services and breast health, and a second free-standing building to house a one-of-a-kind Sports Medicine Institute, totaling more than 300,000 square feet. This expansion includes services that promote same-day care, which allows patients to use a state-of-the-art Field House for rehabilitation.

The South Pavilion is located next to the existing hospital to allow adjacencies between the existing imaging and surgery departments. The new emergency department, located on the first floor, was upgraded to Level II Trauma and has an expanded capacity for complex cases. And the surgery department on the second floor added eight operating rooms large enough to accommodate current and future technology. The ambulatory surgery suite including pre- and post-op areas are universally designed so they can be used for any procedure type and flex with the timing of the day.

The Steve and Loree Potash Women & Newborn Center on the third floor provides a family-focused home for expectant mothers and newborns. The unit is designed to exceed the highest standards for quality, expert care while meeting the unique needs and delivery preferences of each patient and their family. The experience is like walking into a first-class hotel with a high touch, calming, service-oriented process. A special care nursery/Level 3 NICU and breast center are also located here.

Drusinsky Sports Medicine Institute is a clinical care and treatment destination for athletes of all ages and talent levels. It offers comprehensive orthopedic services including performance training, on-site surgical services, and physical therapy, hydrotherapy as well as education and services to keep them at the top of their game. The prominent design feature is a field house with three-story volume and glazing that contains half a football field, a partial basketball court, batting cages, track and field surfaces, ballet bars and weight training. The sports-centric design is carried throughout the facility to serve as an inspiration for recovering athletes to get back out on the field. The Cutler Center for Men on the third floor showcases a new model of care for men, offering a full range of health care services. It is designed like a men’s lounge overlooking the football field to help motivate men to prioritize their health through prevention and wellness care.

The Design Impact

The expanded Ahuja Medical Center campus allows caregivers to efficiently provide quality health care and enhance the patient experience. The hospital embraces a “community of care” philosophy, promoting the welfare of both patients and staff through improved efficiencies, safety, and medical technology. With ample natural light and materials, the hospital brings the outside in and blends with its natural surroundings.

The environmentally responsible design incorporates wetlands, bio swales and native plants, while taking maximum advantage of passive solar energy. The pavilion and sports medicine complex make access to health care services easier and place a focus on wellness.

Project Features