Healthcare Design - June/July 2019 - 43

of hope within the city's skyline, while also
fitting into its immediate, low-rise environs,
the historic San Marco neighborhood. The
solution involved creating an L-shaped, ninestory building fronted by a three-level base.
"The lower three floors give the building
entrance a stepped effect that helps blend it into
the surrounding neighborhood," says Rupert
Brown, design director, Dallas, at HKS.
The façades of the tower, meanwhile, feature
angled and faceted locally sourced pre-cast
concrete, terra cotta, and natural brushed aluminum panels, which on one side of the building create a visual treat by reflecting the moving waters of the nearby St. Johns River.

TOM HARRIS

Inside, the first three floors of the building house
a variety of public areas, including the nation's
first cancer-specialized Walgreen's pharmacy; a
café that offers healthy food selections tailored
to cancer patients; and the Life Wellness Center,
a retail shop that offers wellness services and
specialty-care products for cancer patients and
survivors.
The facility's clinics, located on its middle
floors, were zoned front-to-back from the entry,
with waiting areas adjacent to the elevator,
followed by patient entry, support/patient exam
rooms, and staff collaboration spaces. "That
setup reduces staff and patient steps, creates
clear wayfinding for patients and visitors, and
augments patient flow from waiting to exam,
back to scheduling upon exit," Brown says.
In the exam rooms, flexibility was a key driver
for operational efficiency and improving the patient experience. That resulted in the use of universal clinic modules that allow specialty clinics
to flex up or down in space, depending on appointment loads.
Cognizant of the difficult, lengthy stays some
may experience, the design team decided to
locate several key treatment areas in prominent
areas of the facility, including placing radiation
oncology on the first floor, where patients
awaiting treatment can relax in spaces with
access to natural light. In a similar vein, the top
floor of the tower was designed to accommodate
infusion therapy services, with rooms featuring
floor-to-ceiling windows to provide patients
undergoing treatments (which typically last one
to four hours) a variety of views. "These views
contribute to reducing stress, provide positive
distractions, and afford incredible vistas across
the city and St. Johns River," says HKS' Brown.
The new center replaces a smaller-scale facil-

ARTISTIC
TOUCH

C L I N I C F E AT U R E S

One of the most
striking art
installations on the
center's grounds is
sculptor Konstantin
Dimopolous' cluster
of 28-foot-tall carbon
fiber rods painted in
a bright red, which
create a soothing
experience when they
gently rustle in the
wind.

Beyond programming
decisions, the project
team on the new Baptist
MD Anderson Cancer
Center in Jacksonville,
Fla., devoted a lot of
time to creating an
interior environment
that's calming and welcoming. Leigh Walker,
senior interior designer
with FreemanWhite,
a Haskell Company
(Charlotte, N.C.), which
provided interior design
services on the project,
found herself drawing on
personal experience in
that regard. She received
a cancer diagnosis about
six months before starting work on the project.
"That experience took
my thinking about what
we were doing within
the center, and why,
to a whole new level,"
Walker says. "I found
myself thinking, well,
I had this experience,
and this is how I felt, and
here's how that could
possibly be reflected in
the design."
For example, she
noted that because a
cancer diagnosis and

treatment is a stressful
experience, "coming into
a place that's loud and
full of bright colors can
elevate people's blood
pressure, which is not
supportive of a healing
environment. As a result,
we designed around
a neutral color palette,
allowing the uplifting artwork that was installed
throughout the center to
be the focal point."
The 600-plus pieces
of artwork, both within
the facility and on its
grounds, were selected
by an art advisory committee and go beyond
being mere décor.
Such works-including sculptor Konstantin
Dimopolous' set of
28-foot-tall carbon fiber
rods painted in a bright
red (shown above),
artist Enid Blechman's
wallcoverings consisting of hand-painted,
multicolored microscope
slides, and sculptor Linda
Howard's DNA-inspired
metal sculptures-serve
as a source of comfort
and a positive distraction
to help reduce anxiety

and stress.
To make sure the
artwork had that
intended impact, the
committee responsible
for commissioning it met
during the pre-planning
for the building to decide
specific placements and
work with the artists to
make sure their work is
compatible with the center's aesthetic. "Each one
of the artists came to the
site, and we spent time
with them going through
the 3-D models, how it's
oriented, and what kind
of materials were going
to be used," says Keith
Tickell, vice president
of strategic assets/real
estate for Baptist Health.
Walker says the use
of art is one of several ways that hospitality
design influenced the
cancer center's look and
feel. "The Baptist MD
Anderson team didn't
want the patients to feel
like they are walking into
an outpatient version of
a hospital, but rather like
they're in a comfortable
space with hotel-like
attributes."-MH

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