Project category: New construction (completed April 2005)

Chief administrator: Daryl Schroeder, Vice-President, Operations, (612) 863-4120

Firm: HKS, Inc., (214) 969-5599

Design team: Daryl Schroeder, Project Executive (Abbott Northwestern Hospital); Jeff Stouffer, AIA, Principal Designer; Laurie Waggener, Senior Project Designer (HKS, Inc.); Bob Steffel, Project Manager (M.A. Mortenson Company); Rick Rome, Principal Engineer (ccrd Partners); Daniel Murphy, Structural Engineer (Mey-er, Borgman and Johnson, Inc.)

Photography: Ed LaCasse

Total building area (sq. ft.): 225,000

Construction cost/sq. ft.: $274

Total construction cost (excluding land): $61,600,000


The renowned cardiovascular services of Abbott Northwestern Hospital and the Minneapolis Heart Institute came together to build Abbott Northwestern’s new heart hospital. The new 128-bed heart hospital on the Abbott Northwestern campus serves patients and their families from across the upper Midwest.

All inpatient rooms are private and include a DVD player, a data port, and a sleeper chair for family members. Patients will benefit from technologic advances, a healing environment, and a program of integrative therapies including therapeutic massage, music therapy, guided imagery, and others.

The facility was also designed to support the caregiver. The hospital is designed with spaces for education, conferencing, relaxation, and renewal for the staff. The décor and furniture are designed to provide a positive working environment.

Patients and family members were asked, “What creates a healing environment?” They identified superior clinical quality, access to physicians using the latest research to treat their condition, positive relationships with caring professionals, well-coordinated care, access to education and information when and where they need it, physical comfort, and emotional support. These attributes are now part of the new facility.

Healing environment concepts from the North Hawaii Community Hospital (founded with the support and vision of Earl Bakken) were incorporated into the new building. Bakken’s vision was to create a place to treat the whole person—mind, body and spirit—that blends the best of modern medicine with alternative and complementary (integrative) techniques. The physical spaces of Abbott Northwestern Heart Hospital are consistent with this model.