Project category: New construction (completed February 2012)

Chief administrator: Kellie Thames, Practice Administrator, (512) 978-9353

Firm: Lawrence Group Architects, Inc., (512) 391-1932

Design team: Raymond Chan, Civil (Chan & Partners); Jerry Garcia, Structural (Structures); Rick Guerra, MEP (Jose I. Guerra Inc.); Marla Bommarito, Interior Design (The Bommarito Group); Eleanor McKinney, Landscape Design(McKinney Studio)

Photography: ©2013 Paul Bardagjy Photography

Total building area (sq. ft.): 53,500

Construction cost/sq. ft.: $205

Total construction cost (excluding land): $11,000,000

Central Health’s new North Central Health Center provides quality and accessible Healthcare through a facility that promotes a sense of place and civic pride within the local community.  The new 53,500-square-foot facility is operated by CommUnityCare, a Federally Qualified Health Center system. 

The clinic provides pediatric, family practice, dental, OB/GYN, radiology, and internal medicine services to medically underserved members of the community.  The facility also includes a pharmacy, areas for nutrition education services, and administrative and support areas.

The six separate medical disciplines are organized around a central two-story medical mall.  Each clinic has its own color theme and waiting area, along with full height glass opening onto the central medical mall.  Clerestory windows allow daylight into the medical mall and waiting areas while the blue hue of the two-story ceiling, the mutli-color browns of the floor tile, and the bright sun colored walls evoke the blue skies, rich soils, and bright sun of central Texas. 

Although each of the individual clinics are physically separate from each other for patients, a secure private corridor provides a means for common facilities to be shared between clinics and a way for Physicians and Staff to share resources and consultations between clinics without disturbing patients and families in the waiting areas.

The building was sited to maximize the preservation of existing trees with local stone and native drought tolerant vegetation used as exterior elements.  The Design-Build project received a LEED Silver certification in 2012.