Project category: New construction (completed September 2004)

Chief administrator: Dr. Felipe Torres, Director

Firm: HDR Architecture, Inc., (972) 960-4000

Design team: Vince Ellwood, Designer; Ed Brooks, Project Principal; Bernie Bortnick, FAIA, Senior Project Designer; Kamran Elahi, Project Manager; Darius Shroff, Project Architect; Martin Krueger, Designer

Photography: Hector Velasco Facio

Total building area (sq. ft.): 284,500

Construction cost/sq. ft.: $197

Total construction cost (excluding land): $56,000,000

Ensuring superior levels of healthcare for patients within the boundaries of their native country drove the design for Hospital ABC, I.A.P., a 284,500-sq.-ft. facility in Santa Fe, Mexico. Designed as an outpatient expansion of the existing American British Cowdray (ABC) Hospital in Mexico City, this new facility includes ambulatory surgery, emergency services, imaging, preventive medicine, medical offices, a welfare clinic, and inpatient beds.

Hospital ABC was designed to all current U.S. hospital standards. The quest for excellence led administrators to our design firm, chosen for worldwide healthcare expertise, to create a healthcare facility of the future.

The property selected was a greenfield site of approximately 16 acres. The pastoral setting was ideally suited to the owner’s vision of a “hospital in a park.”

Hospital ABC features multiple gardens that acknowledge the symbiotic and proven relationship between healing and nature. A handsomely ramped, sunken garden offers visitors and staff outdoor dining while patients appreciate the lush healing garden and fountain. Larger patient rooms and ample waiting areas were designed for comfort and convenience.

Departments are organized in a linear manner with a two-story concourse that easily orients visitors and patients. Warm and inviting, the hospital’s four-story atrium animates the arrival lobby and serves as another effective orientation space.

Integral to the planning of Hospital ABC was the identification of future growth/expansion and how it would fit within the existing model. An orderly, phased expansion is paramount to the project’s overall success.