Project category: New construction & Remodel/Renovation (completed April 2005)

Chief administrator: Frank Saba, President and CEO, (508) 422-2201

Firm: Steffian Bradley Architects, (617) 305-7100

Design team: Robert Humenn, AIA, Principal-in-Charge; Kirsten Waltz, Project Manager; Kevin Neumann, AIA, Project Designer; Linda Haggerty, Principal Interior Designer; Don Luoni, AAIA, Construction Administration

Photography: Edward Jacoby Photography

Total building area (sq. ft.): 70,705 (new); 10,000 (renovation)

Construction cost/sq. ft.: $283 (new); $500 (renovation)

Total construction cost (excluding land): $20,000,000 (new); $5,000,000 (renovation)


Milford Regional Medical Center is a full-service community and regional teaching hospital. A strategic facilities plan that included evaluations of existing departments, programming, and planning resulted in the new $45 million patient care additions, constructed in three phases. The new facilities provide staff and patients with the latest technology, improved care, simplified wayfinding, and a more efficient, aesthetically pleasing healing environment.

The patient care additions include a medical/surgical floor with private rooms, operating suites, consolidated surgical services, and a cafeteria with a two-story glass atrium. The project also includes a maternity center expansion that contains a new nursery, labor and delivery rooms, new postpartum rooms, an expanded nurses’ station, and support space.

As natural light has been found to enhance the healing process, corridors are lined with large windows, placed high enough to ensure privacy. Translucent glass in walls and stairways aids in wayfinding and brings in light, while providing privacy for patients and staff inside.

To resolve the addition’s challenging location—between the main parking lot and the existing entrance—the design incorporates a glass wall that begins across from the main parking lot and leads patients and visitors around the addition to the main entrance. Along the way, a corner staircase, which faces a major intersection, assists wayfinding and serves as a beacon for the local community. Landscaping distinguishes the main entrance from alternate entrances.