Project category: New construction (completed June 2004)

Chief administrator: David Whitaker, Chief Executive Officer, (405) 307-1000

Firm: JHBR Architects, Inc., (405) 526-0280

Design team: Darrell McAllister, Principal-in-Charge; John Masters, Project Architect; Kevin Williams, Principal, Construction Administration; Ashleigh Carpenter, Interior Design

Photography: © josephmills.com

Total building area (sq. ft.): 73,560

Construction cost/sq. ft.: $85

Total construction cost (excluding land): $6,253,000

Located in a growing area of West Norman, this Class A, 74,000-square-foot medical office building is owned and operated by Norman Regional Hospital. This facility offers leading-edge Radiology, MRI, Urgent Care, Cardiac, Lab, and Physicians’ Services. This is the first facility of a planned healthcare “campus” designed to enhance patients’ and families’ healing experiences.

In addition to the design and construction, the Healthplex building received interior design services, tenant planning, and site master-planning services for future hospital development, including possible retail, food service, and other amenities to allow patients and families a more relaxed and productive experience.

The exterior of the building was designed to take elements of the existing hospital and compose them in a contemporary way that reflects the quality services contained within. Blue glass reflects the expansive Oklahoma sky and is contained with locally quarried “Oklahoma Red” brick.

Interior design features also reflect high-quality hospital services. A three-story atrium lobby oriented to the northeast takes advantage of indirect natural light and orients visitors as they arrive. Large columns of wood veneer at the “core” anchor the space and give visitors a sense of human scale and warmth. A flexible healthcare structural model was used to facilitate planning of physicians’ offices in each wing and provide exam rooms with exterior windows.