Ahuja Medical Center (AMC), located in Beachwood, Ohio, strives to make healthcare personal on every level-literally. The $150-million University Hospitals (UH) project, which opened this winter, was planned with the immediate community in mind from start to finish. AMC's unique exterior shape “hugs” the neighborhoods it serves and allows for the continued horizontal growth of two additional phases that will eventually bump the facility's capacity from 144 beds up to 600 total beds. In addition, the HKS, Inc., design team in conjunction with Array HFS, threw out traditional healthcare conventions in favor of a more unique and efficient reorganization of the facility's interior departments (touting separate invasive and noninvasive floors), patient rooms, and staff areas. Array has worked with UH since 2004 on system-wide master planning and served on this project as associate architect, participating in the interior medical planning and designing architectural interiors.
Embracing nature
Green design, or sustainability, was the first order of the day for this project given that the site itself featured protected wetlands. “Presented with a site that had protected wetlands, we felt that this was an incredible opportunity to connect the building with nature,” Kraus says. “Not only did we want to create therapeutic gardens for patients and staff, but we wanted to bring the outside in. The lobby and welcoming form are shaped such that when you enter the facility, you can immediately see out and through to the gardens beyond.”
