Project category: Project in progress (November 2005)

Chief administrator: Edward A. Morton, CEO, NCH Healthcare System, (239) 436-5113

Firm: Jonathan Bailey Associates, (469) 227-3905

Design team: Jonathan D. Bailey, AIA, NCARB, President and CEO, Director of Design; Curtis Qualls, Vice-President, Project Designer (Jonathan Bailey Associates); Bob Danner, Principal, Senior Project Engineer, Mechanical/Electrical Engineer (Tilden Lobnitz Cooper, Inc.); Chuck Grossman, Principal, Structural Engineer (Zinser/Grossman Structural); Terry Cole, PE, Vice-President, Civil Engineer (Hole Montes)

Total building area (sq. ft.): 184,895 (new); 27,363 (renovation)

Construction cost/sq. ft.: $214

Total cost (excluding land): $45,439,226

The expansion and renovation project of North Collier Hospital in Naples, Florida, helps the hospital keep pace with growth in northern Collier and southern Lee counties. The project provides 212,000+ square feet of new construction and renovations, including a new six-story acute care tower for surgical, pediatric, and intensive care services and a new entry connecting public spaces. Most importantly, the project rejuvenates the hospital’s image.

The new tower introduces a unique architectural feature to the campus, adding a palette of materials, shapes, and elements that will invigorate the campus for generations to come. The new tower’s glass vestibule, soaring curved walls, and glass fade are particularly striking. Interior aspects enhance the public approach to the facility and add efficiency by shortening distances between patient and staff areas. The aesthetic impact of the overall design provides a pleasant and healing environment for patients, visitors, and staff.


Exploring Florida architecture’s modernist vernacular, the new facility makes excellent use of natural lighting. Spaces for support functions are segregated from patient and public areas to maintain a hospitable rather than clinical feel. Guests and staff can dine alfresco surrounded by a series of pools and outdoor areas with excellent views. Retail shops are included along the ground level.

The acute care tower will dominate the campus and create the new beacon for the community. The 171,300-square-foot tower will house public amenities, dietary/dining, pediatrics, medical/surgical beds, radiology, outpatient services, pharmacy, and the rapid-response lab. Patients will enter the tower under a stainless steel canopy that engages a two-story glass conservatory vestibule. Once inside, visitors will be treated to interiors that provide an atmosphere of comfort and care by using natural woods, colors, lighting, and aromas that enhance the experience, as well as colors that promote healing. Each level will initially have a 36-patient bed unit but will be capable of expansion depending on the season and the need to mix private and semi- private rooms.


Once the existing pediatric and intensive care units are moved to the tower, renovation will begin inside the existing facility. Expansion of the surgery department will provide support spaces and five new operating rooms for general and specialty surgeries. Renovation of the radiology department will provide space for new MRI, radiology/fluoroscopy, computerized tomography, and ultrasound areas. Central sterile, distribution, energy plant, and housekeeping also will be enlarged.