Waco Family Medicine Central Campus

The Challenge

Waco Family Medicine is a Federally Qualified Health Center that cares for more than 60,000 underserved residents of McLennan and Bell counties who have historically struggled to access quality care in a health care system that favors privately insured patients. Faced with an aging facility surrounded by a sea of concrete, Waco Family Medicine sought to create a lively health campus that connects with the surrounding community.

With the new campus, the health system endeavored to increase capacity, consolidate services under one roof and facilitate medical training. Waco Family Medicine also wanted to develop a strategy for future growth that would not interfere with clinic operations.

Waco Family Medicine and HKS sought to implement an evidence-based design process throughout the project’s life cycle, from inception through post-occupancy evaluation. Evidence-based design grounds decisions in credible research, data and best practices to improve outcomes for all stakeholders.

The Design Solution

At the outset of the project, HKS conducted an extensive literature review to analyze existing research on health care design. The project team solicited substantial input from Waco Family Medicine leadership and staff, as well as from English- and Spanish-speaking members of the community the health center serves, ranging from young children and their parents to older adults who lived in a neighboring facility.

The resulting design features exterior glass walls that connect the health center with its neighborhood, and a covered portico that serves as a welcoming “front porch” to the building. A spacious lawn provides room to host community events, gives local children a safe place to play and offers gardens where patients, families, staff and neighbors can recharge their spirits. The communal green space brings people together and raises the health center’s profile in Waco.

Throughout the facility, natural materials such as wood, limestone and terracotta foster a sense of well-being and tranquility.

On the ground floor, a community health marketplace houses service agencies and nonprofits that address social determinants of health. These organizations help tackle food insecurity, housing and transportation issues and offer legal aid, language assistance and more. A ground-floor culinary classroom is paired with a garden of herbs, fruits and vegetables to inspire healthier eating habits. An indoor/outdoor gym is available to patients and staff to promote health and well-being.

The facility’s clinic floors feature exam rooms that are designed to accommodate a variety of health care specialties. On each clinic floor, the exam rooms are arranged in four identical pods that are connected by a back-of-house corridor for operational efficiency. Each pod includes 15 exam rooms and an open, centralized workspace that provides care teams with quick access to the exam rooms and patient registration services. The open design supports collaboration, visibility and communication between staff and patients. Each clinic floor also includes indoor and outdoor respite spaces where staff can rest and re-energize.

The Design Impact

The facility is a vibrant health hub that offers clinical care, physical activity, education and access to nutritious foods. Community activities are held regularly on the health center’s grounds. The outdoor green space encourages neighborhood development and connects the clinic to a pedestrian corridor.

The project earned a Touchstone Award from the Center for Health Design for exemplary use of an evidence-based design process.

During design development, the project team used virtual reality to present design ideas and reach consensus on design requirements. The Waco Family Medicine Foundation used this virtual space for fundraising purposes, allowing potential donors to explore the design prior to construction. HKS created an early donor package that showcased design concepts and donor recognition opportunities that helped Waco Family Medicine secure several million dollars in donor funding.