Project category: New construction (completed July 2004)

Chief administrator: Lee Christenson, CEO, (717) 625-5000

Firm: HHCP Architects, (407) 875-2722

Design team: Charles S. Braun, FAIA, Managing Partner; Bruce Hartwigsen, AIA, Designer/Planner; Mike Gibson, AIA, Project Manager; Kent Keech, AIA, Project Coordinator

Photography: Raymond Martinot

Total building area (sq. ft.): 188,140

Construction cost/sq. ft.: Not released

Total construction cost (excluding land): Not released


The Heart of Lancaster Regional Medical Center, located on a 44-acre site in rural Lititz, Pennsylvania, replaces a facility originally built in 1929. The owner’s goal was to meet the expanding needs of the local community by building a welcoming facility that accommodates current and future healthcare technologies and services.

The result is an 188,000-square-foot, three-story facility with a warm brick exterior and 144 patient beds that are sized for patient-focused care. An expanded emergency department with trauma, emergency, and fast-track services offers Lancaster County’s only 15-minute Emergency Care Pledge and features 2 critical care rooms, 12 exam/treatment rooms, and a radiology room. The clinical diagnostic services lab, surgery suite, radiology suite, and cardiopulmonary functions are collocated to provide maximum support to the ED and convenience for inpatient and outpatient visits.

In addition to its many other services, the replacement facility also includes a connected Women’s Center, offering comprehensive healthcare for women along with birthing suites in an LDR/Postpartum unit that’s equipped with infant security, state-of-the-art communications technology, classrooms, and extended family spaces.

A freestanding central energy plant provides cost-effective mechanical and electrical systems and services to the facility and is designed to accommodate future expansions of the campus and its buildings.