Project category: New construction (completed June 2006)

Chief administrator: Kenneth D. Graham, CEO, (650) 940-7000

Firm: Chong Partners Architecture, (415) 433-0120

Design team: Architecture, Chong Partners Architecture; General Contracting, Vance Brown Builders; Mechanical Engineering, Mazzetti & Associates; Structural Engineering, Dasse Design; Civil Engineering, BFK Engineers

Photography: Matthew Millman

Total building area (sq. ft.): 124,700

Construction cost/sq. ft.: Not Released

Total construction cost (excluding land): Not Released


The new Melchor Pavilion Medical Office Building (MOB) is part of an existing medical campus with a distinct neighborhood identity. On upper floors, expanses of storefront glazing alternate with a light-colored brick that matches the adjacent Orchard Pavilion. The street façade is plaster with individual window openings. Individual panes of glass within the curtainwall system are set at two different depths from the face of the mullions, providing a lively façade by increasing the play of light and shadow.

In contrast to the brick, the solid mass of aluminum and glass above gives the impression that the upper floors float free of the ground level. The main entrance, sheltered by a canopy, leads into a dramatic two-story glass lobby that reinforces the look of lightness and modernity and is consistent with the image of El Camino Hospital.

The layout of each MOB floor provides a wide bay between corridors and exterior walls to accommodate large medical practices, and a narrower bay for small single physician office suites. The ground-floor outpatient clinics, including the endoscopy center, required occupancy separation from the rest of the building and independent exiting.

The site plan separates pedestrian and vehicle traffic while integrating the facilities in an easily understood entry plaza. The brick façade of the 850-stall parking structure blends with the MOB, part of a language of design and materials that tie the buildings together. Concrete panels subtly announce the parking structure to drivers approaching the elevator/stair tower.