Project category: New construction (completed March 2007)

Chief administrator: Jeff Hausler, Chief Executive Officer, (281) 487-0700

Firm: Ascension Group Architects, (817) 226-1917

Design team: Rod Booze, AIA, Managing Principal; Curt Fain, AIA, Project Manager

Photography: Renee Mueller

Total building area (sq. ft.): 101,000

Construction cost/sq. ft.: $218

Total construction cost (excluding land): $22,000,000

Located in a suburb of Houston, Patients Medical Center serves a growing segment of the population in Pasadena, Texas. The general hospital is a full-service facility with 53 private patient rooms, four intensive care rooms, and four intermediate care rooms. Patient care is supported by eight operating rooms with complete surgical suites, encompassing an invasive cardiac cath/angio suite, with accommodations for open-heart surgery and neuro/spine surgery. Physicians perform a variety of tasks in a fully staffed laboratory with comprehensive imaging, ultrasound, nuclear medicine, and radiology. With these amenities, diagnostic services and physical therapy are available with a pharmacy and an emergency department.

The design for Patients Medical Center focuses on patient flow and the ability to expand key services. The building is 101,000 square feet with a two-story bed wing. The entrance is a double-volume space, clad in an aluminum skin and glazed curtain wall. Accents are stone veneer, punctuated with floor-to-ceiling glass. Patient drop-off/pickup is sheltered by a cantilevered, covered sculpture of steel and translucent panels.

Great care was given to the interior of the healing environment with the use of soothing colors and references to nature. Most of the entrance lobby is clad in wood, with a stone-colored tile floor. Accent colors in patient rooms are green and blue, referencing plants and water. Outdoor landscaping features high grass and large stones as focal points.