The University Medical Center’s new Emergency Department and Patient Tower will prove that healthcare need not be impersonal, but an engaging and vibrant experience. This healing-focused and evidence-based hospital is redefining healthcare in southern Arizona.

The six-story addition is a representation of the hospital’s culture and goals. The design team looked to evidence-based research to suggest and recommend solutions. These solutions of the design process provided value, flexibility, and innovation to the project while maintaining a tight construction budget.

The Emergency Department, with 54 exam rooms and seven trauma rooms on the first floor, is designed to handle 110,000 patient visits per year. The design’s two-door concept, adult and pediatric, is unique for all walk-in traffic. The streamlined layout of the department provides greater flexibility and separation by acuity.

David mobley
The typical bed floor houses a 20-bed Intensive Care Unit and a 24-bed Medical/Surgical Unit, allowing physicians to better communicate and decreasing patient anxiety. Each patient floor is designed to increase operational efficiencies, address patient safety, improve patient outcomes, reduce medical errors, and provide a healing environment.

NTDSTICHLER architecture
Project category: Project in progress (August 2009)

Chief administrator: Gregory A. Pivirotto, President & CEO, (520) 694-0111

Firm: NTDSTICHLER Architecture, (858) 565-4440

Design team: Stephen Stokes, Associate Principal, Project Designer; Steven Ward, AIA, Principal, Planner; Mike Kintz, RA, CSI, Senior Associate, Project Manager; Miguel Camacho, Project Architect; Linda Mitchell, CID, Principal, Interior Designer

Illustration: NTDSTICHLER Architecture; David Mobley

Total building area (sq. ft.): 214,000

Construction cost/sq. ft.: $383

Total construction cost (excluding land): $82,000,000

In a healthcare setting, it is critical that the architecture and interior design work together to create one unified design. This project supports this integrated approach by investing simple architectural spaces with rich detail, texture, materials, color, and light. The design is about simplicity, integration with the existing facility, and inspiration, creating a complete environment.