Project category: New construction (completed September 2004)

Chief administrator: John Messervy, Director of Capital and Facilities Planning, (617) 726-2442

Firm: Perkins+Will, (212) 251-7072

Design team: Carolyn BaRoss, LEED AP, Principal-in-Charge/Design Principal; Jean Mah, AIA, FACHA, LEED AP, Planning Principal; Sonya Dufner, ASID, LEED AP, Senior Designer and Planner (Perkins+Will); Robert Humenn, AIA, Architect of Record, Interiors (Steffian Bradley Associates)

Photography: Anton Grassl Photography

Total building area (sq. ft.): 380,000

Construction cost/sq. ft.: Not Released

Total construction cost (excluding land): Not Released


As the first project following Massachusetts General Hospital’s comprehensive 20-year master plan, the new Yawkey Center for Outpatient Care is the largest and most comprehensive ambulatory care center in New England.

The 10-story, 380,000-sq.-ft. center includes design innovations and world-class elements that reinforce the facility’s stature as one of the nation’s best hospitals. In its new central campus location, the Center offers therapeutic care in almost every medical and surgical specialty in one convenient “hub” location.


The welcoming environment focuses on improving the patient experience. Patients and visitors are greeted by clinical-suite reception points. Simple, user-friendly wayfinding helps organize and separate public, semipublic, and private space. A dramatic public corridor with floor-to-ceiling glass offers soaring views of Beacon Hill.

The interior design team collaborated with 25 different practice groups in 15 different campus locations with an aim to centralize and expand ambulatory care services with a new “one stop” outpatient facility. A highly focused process fostered consensus and promoted a highly flexible, yet specialized planning model.

Design innovations support the individual identity of each area of practice while providing maximum adaptability for future growth and change. Major program areas include: Cancer Care, Women’s and Children’s Health, Musculo-Skeletal Institute, Cardiology, Diagnostic services, and administrative functions such as financial services, office space, teaching/conference rooms, central building amenities, a café, retail, and patient services.