Client: University Medical Center, Tucson, Arizona (Steve Brigham, Director, UMC Capital Planning & Projects)
Architecture: CO Architects, Los Angeles, California (Stephen Yundt, AIA, ACHA, Principal-in-Charge; Dennis McFadden, FAIA, Design Principal; James Simeo, AIA, Project Architect; Anthony Moretti, AIA, CSI, Technical Director
Space programming: Kurt Salmon Associates
Structural engineering: John A. Martin & Associates
MEP engineering: Ove Arup & Partners
Landscape Architecture: Ten Eyck Landscape Architects
Contracting: DPR Construction, Inc., Phoenix, Arizona
Design Start: August 2004
Date Completed: January 2007
Photography: © Robert Canfield Photography
Total building area: 82,000 GSF
Total construction cost: $21,435,000
Cost per square foot: $261
A naturally lit refuge of hope, graced by desert gardens, invokes the calm inspiration and rejuvenating power of the Southwestern landscape—that is the Peter and Paula Fasseas Cancer Clinic in Tucson, Arizona (figure 1).
In 2000, University Medical Center (UMC) acquired a 17-acre site along a major thoroughfare in Tucson. On the property rested an abandoned, two-story hospital in visible disrepair. CO Architects' assignment was to design a new, 80,000-square-foot outpatient cancer clinic. As experienced healthcare facility architects, they knew the programmatic goals and metrics, but also knew they could produce an even better project with more insight into the patient and staff needs of the new clinic. They interviewed former and current cancer patients. There was much that they learned, and there were many comments that had an effect on the design and planning of the facility.
Patient needs
As patients revealed their needs and concerns—some quite sensitive about their changing physical appearances—it was clear that a gently embracing and comforting clinic was desired. Many wanted to see the desert light at all times, as the clinic's most common treatment, infusion therapy, can take as long as 8 to 10 hours. Cancer treatment can also require many visits. The design intent was that the clinic be a beacon of hope.
An executive decision was made to retain one of the existing abandoned facilities and to adapt its use to the new clinic. The challenge was to bring natural light into the recesses of the original “deep floor plate” and offer vistas of the rugged landscape.
The solution was to gut the original building and cut three courtyards into the floor plate (figure 2). By surrounding the courtyards with windows on all sides, natural light and the planted desert landscape could extend deep into the new spaces. The entire facility—including every exam room, infusion therapy room, and all public spaces—is brightened as a result. Distant southwestern mountains are visible from many windows (figure 3).
The light-filled courtyards produced a positive transformation (and reduced artificial lighting requirements), yet there were additional patient concerns to be addressed. Patients said that they were sometimes unsure of where to go, or even what to do, upon arriving at medical facilities. Disorientation can be a “side effect” of treatment. It was important that patients feel protected and guided from the moment they are dropped off at the entry point.
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