Project category: New construction (completed November 2002)

Chief administrator: Tom Rockers, Chief Executive Officer, (314) 525-1846

Firm: The Lawrence Group Architects, (314) 231-5700

Design team: I. Earl Swisher, Principal and Designer; Joel Alves, Project Manager; Gary Conrad, Project Architect (The Lawrence Group Architects); Mary Sue Sutton, Interior Designer (The Lawrence Group Colors)

Photography: ©2005 Debbie Franke

Total building area (sq. ft.): 280,600

Construction cost/sq. ft.: $95

Total construction cost (excluding land): $26,600,000


The St. Anthony’s Heart and Ambulatory Services Center provides an inspired, state-of-the-art healing environment that offers many modern amenities. A convenient drop-off under the entrance canopy and an attached 500-car parking garage provide easy access to the building. Each floor connects directly to each floor of the existing hospital and new parking structure. The concept was to allow doctors who perform surgery in the hospital to have private suites with direct access via bridge link to the existing hospital.

The amenities within the public spaces include an inviting two-story waiting area on Level 3 along with a café catered with food from favorite local restaurants. A fitness center with adjacent locker rooms is provided for hospital staff.

Solnhofen limestone was specified on the floors, stairs, and feature wall within the Rotunda for its timeless qualities and ease of maintenance. Maple veneer, high ceilings with indirect lighting, and natural light from the glass curtain walls add warmth.

Design challenges for the exterior included a gently sloping site, so that a continuation of the hospital floors would put the lower level below grade. The site also had an awkward dogleg configuration with a bisecting utility easement. That dogleg problem became an elegant L-shaped complex whose five-story glass circulation drum forms a giant hinge between the two legs of the L. The drum was also strategically located to be on an axis with nearby busy streets and to serve as a landmark to passersby.