Project category: New construction (completed January 2007)

Chief administrator: Ron J. Anderson, MD, President & CEO, (214) 590-8000

Firm: Perkins+Will, (214) 283-8700

Design team: David Collins, AIA, LEED AP, Design Principal/Health Planner; Randy Hood, AIA, LEED AP, Principal-in-Charge; David Winfrey, AIA, LEED AP, Architectural Project Designer; Michael Tresp, LEED AP, Project Manager; Kirstin Heckt, Interior Project Designer (Perkins+Will); General Contractor, Hill & Wilkinson, Ltd.

Photography: © Mark Trew Photography

Total building area (sq. ft.): 62,000

Construction cost/sq. ft.: $202

Total construction cost (excluding land): $12,500,000


The new 62,000-sq.-ft., two-story Simmons Ambulatory Surgery Center is the first freestanding project that Parkland Health & Hospital System has constructed in more than 20 years. The entrance to the facility and the building’s lobby were designed to create high visual impact on the site.

The main entrance is a two-story atrium that appears as a glass cube connected by two parallel walls of stone. These north-south walls are constructed of 16″ × 24″ Arriscraft stone blocks. The lower stone wall has one large “window” broken down in scale with horizontal and vertical mullions. This is an intentional contrast in scale and texture between the massive walls and the curtain-wall system. The horizontal mullions create horizontal “datum” lines for the building, organizing all exterior components on the building.

The softer shape of the front canopy brings a level of simplicity and warmth and is the strongest horizontal datum for the exterior. This canopy becomes the focal point for the site for visitors and patients and is further emphasized on the site by a simple circle of stamped concrete for the drop-off. This canopy/sunscreen diffuses incoming light into the open atrium/lobby by becoming a wide horizontal element, allowing the strong west sun to bounce off the top of the sunscreen.

The landscape design maintains the architectural lines as boundaries for enhanced pavement and flower beds throughout the site. The architecture extends into the landscape, providing a gradual and understandable progression from the outside in. An outdoor seating area was developed adjacent to and visible from the main public waiting area. From inside the atrium, the waiting room appears to continue outside.