Project category: Project in progress (December 2009)

Chief administrator: Waldo Romero, Providence Health & Services, Service Area Director, (818) 847-3340

Firm: SWA Architects, (626) 793-9805

Design team: Stephen Wen, AIA, Senior Principal-in-Charge; Fernando Ablaza, AIA, Principal-in-Charge of Design; Daniel Bise, Project Director; Leigh Meyer, Project Manager

Total building area (sq. ft.): 50,500

Construction cost/sq. ft.: $903

Total construction cost (excluding land): $45,600,000


The Roy and Patricia Disney Cancer Center (DCC), the signature building of the Burbank Medical Plaza development, has two key points of focus: state-of-the-art treatment using a patient-centered approach, and a peaceful setting that is conducive to healing.

The DCC will use the latest medical technology, the Philips Ambient Experience, in selected treatment rooms, and patients will have the ability to customize aspects of their experience in chosen exam rooms. Most programs and services will be in one location to allow for the patient-centered approach that is the foundation of the project design.

The patient-centered approach continues into the second focus of design, a setting that promotes healing. The recurring circle motif expresses the idea of wholeness and healing and appears in circulation patterns at the exterior entrance. A rock and water cascade pool highlights the main lobby at the center of a two-story glass rotunda and the circular arms of the second-floor structure. Warm colors, rich materials, and curved forms contribute to an elegant, tranquil experience.


The second-floor open lobby connects into the Healing and Wellness Roof Garden, which has five main zones. Each zone becomes more meditative as visitors move deeper into the garden. Water, a key natural element, flows through the garden and ties together various features, from the spiritual fountain in the fifth zone to the reflecting pool in the first zone, and on to the water cascade of the main lobby.
EAST elevation

SOUTH elevation