Project category: New Construction (completed April 2005)

Chief administrator: Leo Fronza, President and CEO, (630) 833-1400

Firm: The Neenan Company, (970) 493-8747

Design team: Miguel Burbano, AIA, Principal Architect; John Mills, Project Architect; Michelle Goodwin, Senior Interior Designer; Roger Wedderburn, Design Architect; Bryan Eubank, Job Captain

Photography: ©2005 Ed LaCasse

Total building area (sq. ft.): 50,000

Construction cost/sq. ft.: $194

Total construction cost (excluding land): $9,700,000


In 2003, with intent to advance its mission of providing convenient, high-quality healthcare within its geographic/market area, the Elmhurst Memorial Healthcare System (EMHS) of Elmhurst, Illinois, launched the second in a series of community-based outpatient facilities. The new facility is located in the central business district of the neighboring, historically underserved Village of Lombard, from which residents currently must drive more than 30 minutes to access comparable quality of care.

Developed on a challenging urban site on Lombard’s Main Street, the facility is limited by Lombard’s historic First Church to the south, a mass-transit station with a village park to the north, and a church on the west, creating unique site-access/parking concerns. To blend with the community’s residential fabric, the facility draws heavily on historic Prairie-style design elements that are prevalent in Chicago’s western suburbs, using natural materials such as a warm face-brick skin with limestone detailing and slatelike tile roof elements to produce a noninstitutional, friendly appearance.

A deliberate focus on patient care is demonstrated through centralized registration and a soothing sculptural water feature in the two-story lobby. A full canopy at the primary entrance provides uncompromised access for patients. The ground floor of this three-story 50,0000-sq.-ft. facility accommodates hospital-based Immediate Care services and Laboratory and Imaging facilities, as well as Rehabilitation services and a Resource/Conference Center.