Project category: New construction & Remodel/Renovation (completed February 2003)

Chief administrator: Steve Sanders, Vice-President and CEO, (281) 364-2301

Firm: WHR Architects, Inc., (713) 665-5665

Design team: Gus Blanco, AIA, ACHA, Project Manager; Gail Burns, IIDA, AAHID, Senior Inteior Designer; Ken L. Ross, Jr., FAIA, FACHA, Principal-in-Charge; Henry Quian, AIA, ACHA, Senior Project Architect; Mark Vaughan, AIA, ACHA, Senior Medical Planner

Photography: Gary Zvonkovic

Total building area (sq. ft.): 272,807 (new); 43,521 (renovation)

Construction cost/sq. ft.: $171 (new); $119 (renovation)

Total construction cost (excluding land): $46,647,000 (new); $5,167,540 (renovation)

The Memorial Hermann The Woodlands Hospital project features a six-story, 272,807-sq.-ft. bed-tower expansion with a total capacity of 252 beds, clinical services, obstetrical department, med/surg beds, pediatrics, a NICU, a Critical Care Unit, and a Cath Lab Suite. The bed-tower expansion is designed around a theme of family-centered care and has expanded private rooms that provide comfortable accommodations for family members.

The program for this existing medical center in The Woodlands was simple: expansion of inpatient beds. There are five floors of inpatient care designed in six-bed clusters for a total of 36 beds per floor. Floors 3 and 4 have an additional 12 ICU beds. The ground floor is designed as a Family Birth Center, housing 34 birthing suites and a 14-bed NICU, offering single-room maternity care with complete mother-baby care in a single room. All rooms are equipped with Internet access, and each floor offers a spacious family gathering area featuring comfortable lounges.

The color palette, materials, and design reflect the natural surroundings of green forest, blue sky, wildflowers, lakes, and trails. Warm woods and durable fabrics with warm colors and leaf patterns continue the “woodlands” theme.

The hospitals inpatient satisfaction scores ranked in the nation’s top 10%, according to Press Ganey Associates. Officials at Memorial Hermann The Woodlands Hospital attribute the ratings boost in part to the hospital’s new patient tower.