Project Category – New Construction (completed May 2001)

Facility Contact – Kimberly Alexander, Public Relations Coordinator, (901) 227-1013

Firm – Earl Swensson Associates, Inc., (615) 329-9445

Design Team – Terry Brantley, Vice-President, General Contractor (Bovis Lend Lease); James Dugan, Project Principal, Civil Engineer (ETI Corporation); Paul Murray, Principal, Structural Engineer (Stanley D. Lindsey Associates, Ltd.); Tom Malloy, President, Mechanical Engineer (Phoenix Design Group, Inc.); Ferdinand Myer, Signage Consultant (FMG)

Patient/Bed Capacity – 140 beds

Total Building Area (sq. ft.) – 260,906

Total Land Area (acres) – 9

Total Cost (excluding land) – $71,000,000 (including equipment/furnishings)


The design of the Baptist Memorial Hospital for Women balances the demands of women’s healthcare needs with the limited site on which the hospital is placed. It’s also an example of a sophisticated approach toward a creative use of materials that yielded a cost-competitive facility in today’s market.

The 140-bed hospital, one of only approximately 15 freestanding women’s hospitals in the nation, provides advanced technology in its comprehensive program for women. It includes beds for neonatal intensive care, postpartum gynecology, labor and delivery, and high-risk pregnancy, and operating rooms for comprehensive, tertiary referral care.

Abiding by the residential area’s height restrictions, the five-story building’s massing is patient-/pedestrian-friendly. The rounded elements and cylinder at the front of the building soften the entry experience and are a contextual response to the other buildings nearby. A rear courtyard shared with the attached physicians’ office building addresses the existing lake by creating a park-like setting.

The curve of the lobby’s front curtain wall is designed to draw patients and visitors inward. The cove-lit soffit in the ceiling above the fountain creates a dramatic centerpiece, around which inviting, soft seating groups are arranged. The neutral palette of soft colors, the warmth of medium cherry woods, the calming sound of the fountain, and the mixture of live foliage and available natural light contribute to a setting of serenity and well-being within a medical context for patient, family and staff.

The connector hallway leading from the lobby to the physicians’ office building doubles as a patient mall, offering such amenities as retail and a women’s resource library. The hall’s fluidity and signage aesthetically promote wayfinding. Its architectural elements include a repetition of arcading arches, light pendants and sconces; rhythm of window mullions in line with the column banding; and the pattern of tile floor insets that mirror the ceiling details.