Memorial Sloan Kettering (MSK) Cancer Center has dedicated more than 130 years to cancer care, with its latest step a ground-up build of the Josie Robertson Surgery Center in New York.

MSK tapped innovation studio Icrave (New York) to provide experiential design and programming for the building designed by Perkins Eastman (New York). (See below for additional project team members.)

Standing 15 stories high, the 175,000-square-foot facility will feature 12 operating rooms equipped to provide technologically sophisticated surgical care on an outpatient basis.

For its healthcare debut, Icrave turned to its hospitality background to create a patient-centric ecosystem. Specifically, the team is designing the main reception and guest waiting area on the third floor, post-operating rooms and hallways on the fourth and fifth floors, pre-operating rooms and hallways on the sixth floor, and the staff lounge and dining area on the 14th floor.

Space planning throughout each floor was crafted to simplify the check-in process, ease wait times, make treatment education more accessible, and provide diverse respite areas. The firm’s overarching goal was to deliver a campus for patients, caregivers, and the MSK staff that rethinks the patient journey, from the seamless blend between private and communal seating to interactive installations, recreation areas, locally driven food programs, and thoughtfully curated technology.

One of the primary design components is based on creating flexible pre- and post-operative areas that address the needs of both patients and caregivers. These areas have been designed as intuitive spaces that engage, educate, and, ultimately, reduce the tension and anxiety associated with traditional clinical waiting rooms.

The staff area on the 14th floor will serve as a social hub with flexible workstations, breakout spaces, a communal kitchen, and a market cafe that builds staff unity and acts as an adaptable space, responding to their individual and group needs.

Icrave is also developing operational models with an aim of shifting the current healthcare paradigm and pushing boundaries to change culture and inspire patients, caregivers, and MSK staff. This includes the development of non-medical physical, operational, and digital solutions from pre-arrival to postoperative care.

The Josie Robertson Surgery Center is scheduled to be completed the first quarter of 2016.

Additional project team members include:

  • Exit: Wayfinding design consultant
  • Jeffrey Berman Architects: Surgical design consultant
  • Stantec Consulting Services: MSK program manager, civil/site
  • Turner Construction: Construction manager
  • Robert Silman Associates PC: Structural
  • JFK&M Engineers LLC: MEP
  • GZA GeoEnvironmental of New York: Geotechnical
  • Shen Milsom & Wilke LLC: Acoustical/telecommunications
  • Lerch Bates Inc.: Vertical transportation
  • EDI Ltd.: Technology and IT program manager