Project category: New construction (completed December 2004)

Chief administrator: William N. Hait, MD, PhD, Professor of Medicine and Pharmacology, Associate Dean, Oncology Programs, UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, (732) 235-8780

Firm: Hillier Architecture, (609) 452-8888

Design team: Colin Mosher, AIA, Design Principal; Steve McDaniel, AIA, Principal-in-Charge; Robert Degenova, RA, Lab Specialist; Jessica Vuocolo, Interior Design; Jack Mus, AIA, Project Architect

Photography: Cancer Institute of New Jersey; Colin Mosher; James D’Addio Photographer

Total building area (sq. ft.): 218,000

Construction cost/sq. ft.: $289

Total construction cost (excluding land): $65,000,000

When The Cancer Institute of New Jersey anticipated the need for a substantial expansion to its existing research and patient care facilities, the client selected Hillier to develop a program and conceptual building design that would maximize the potential of the Institute’s downtown New Brunswick site. Hillier’s design for the new addition adds more than 143,000 square feet of clinical, research, support, and expansion spaces to the existing 75,000-square-foot structure. Hillier also completed a 26,000-square-foot renovation to the first-floor Women’s Center.

Included in the plan were provisions for the relocation of the pediatric care facility to a new floor, with access to roof gardens and terraces, space for a vivarium to support research, and structured parking to serve pediatric patients and their families.

The six-story addition allows the Institute to utilize as much exterior space as possible for a new forecourt and a garden. A new, double-height patient entry is placed at the intersection of the old and new buildings, and from that central location patients move into galleries that are organized around the court. A curved garden wall creates privacy for the patient gallery while supporting a sculptural metal canopy that shelters the drop-off and waiting areas.

The exterior architecture makes use of themes, materials, and building elements derived from those of the existing structure. This coherence knits together the aesthetic fabrics of the old and new buildings and seamlessly integrates the two pieces.