Project category: New construction (completed June 2005)

Chief administrator: Larry O’Brien, President and CEO, (775) 770-3347

Firm: Leary Childs Mascari Warner Architects/Douglas Childs Architect, (858) 695-0444

Design team: Scott B. Herman, AIA, Parking Consultant (HNA/Pacific); Deborah Brandt, Interior Designer (Brandt Design Group); Warren Pottebaum, Structural Engineer (Dasse Design, Inc.); Marc A. Press, SE, Structural Engineer (KPFF Consulting Engineers); Shaun Smith, Civil Engineer (CFA, Inc.); Gary Eastley, Mechanical, Electrical, and Plumbing Engineer (Randall Lamb Associates)

Photography: © VanceFox, Leary Childs Mascari Warner Architects/Douglas Childs Architect

Total building area (sq. ft.): 630,663

Construction cost/sq. ft.: Not Released

Total construction cost (excluding land): Not Released


To address various patient and campus needs, Saint Mary’s Health Network asked Leary Childs Mascari Warner Architects to develop a strategic plan and campus master plan for its Regional Medical Center in Reno, Nevada. New components of the master plan included a medical office building, parking structure, plaza, and hospital tower. The result was the West Campus.

The Regional Medical Center’s downtown location demanded an urban design solution. Other design requirements included the creation of a traditional university-campus feel, “wellness” design, patient convenience, connectivity, architectural references to the Medical Center’s historic 1930s hospital façade, and the creation of the “front door” for the future West Tower Hospital Expansion.

The West Campus is comprised of the 215,000-sq.-ft., 6-story Saint Mary’s Center for Health, a 1,090 car, 8-level parking structure, and an above-grade plaza that provides proximate accessible parking below. The principal concept for the plan was to create a “quad” in the middle of the campus. Buildings are organized around the quad, allowing for the creation of a landscaped plaza. The plaza becomes the campus focal point, providing a place for people to gather for events or retreat in private, as well as providing vistas from the surrounding buildings. To separate pedestrians from vehicles, the plaza was elevated. Staff and patients can walk from the parking structure to the hospital, or to the medical office building, at the second floor level, passing by lawns, a fountain, and art. Stairs and a water feature becomes the backdrop to the hospital’s main entrance.


The Center for Health provides outpatient services to Saint Mary’s patients. Components include the 45,000-sq.-ft. Center for Health & Fitness, a 10,600-sq.-ft. Outpatient Imaging Center, a 13,100-sq.-ft. Oncology Center, Laboratory, 120-seat Auditorium for staff and community education, Physical Therapy, Women’s Diagnostic Center, 4,100-sq.-ft. Executive Physicals and Administrative Offices, and Physician Offices.

The West Campus Parking Structure provides parking for the new Center for Health and the Regional Medical Center. The structure was oriented to minimize its visual impact on the surrounding area, and designed to blend in with the campus architecture. The Parking Structure’s elevator tower has been emphasized to assist in orienting people on the campus. A bridge connects the parking structure to the plaza and office building.