To better serve the growing population in Greensboro and the Triad area of North Carolina, The Moses H. Cone Memorial Hospital required an upgrade to its existing cardiac care facilities. An area of a new facility was also needed to house a joint venture between the hospital and local cardiologists for outpatient invasive cardiac procedures. The client asked that a new Heart and Vascular Center be developed that would have a distinct presence on the campus while being fully integrated into the services of the main hospital—a visual identity, yet one that would blend in with the existing hospital exterior. Ease of public and patient accessibility, as well as state-of-the-art facilities, were stressed.

After several site studies to determine the best location for the new facility, the hospital selected a heavily treed site adjacent to the existing hospital’s main entrance. Thus, the Heart and Vascular Center’s main entry could be developed off the main hospital entry drive. This location also placed the cardiac facilities directly adjacent to the hospital’s seven existing Catheterization Labs on the second level and within 100 feet of the existing Surgery Suite on the third level by a direct corridor connection.

As mandated by the hospital’s board of directors, the existing trees were to be preserved as much as possible. This was addressed by locating a patient/family parking area beneath the new facility, affording patients convenient access to the cardiac facilities. Elevators connect the parking deck to the Heart and Vascular Center on the upper two floors. A concave wall near the second-level main entry draws visitors into a two-story main entry Atrium. The Atrium is central to the elevator lobby, an Education Room (contained by the convex wall), an exterior courtyard and fountain, the joint venture outpatient procedure area, and the noninvasive procedure areas. The Education Room serves as a formal lecture hall for both staff and visitors.

The interior of the facility incorporates system-wide standard finishes that follow evidence-based interior design philosophies to create an environment that supports the healing process and offers a serene and comfortable space to the public, patients, and staff.

The Heart and Vascular Center provides 28 acuity-adaptable patient rooms on the third level, capable of transitioning between coronary intensive care and transitional telemetry care to better address the changing healthcare community’s needs. Decentralized nurses’ stations between each two rooms allow for closer monitoring of patients and facilitate patient-focused care.

Project category: Addition (completed June 2006)

Chief administrator: R. Timothy Rice, President & CEO, (336) 832-7000

Firms: Peterson Associates, pa, (704) 364-3400; ID Collaborative, (336) 370-1117

Design team: C.D. “Buddy” Moose, AIA, Principal-in-Charge/Project Manager; Michael A. Rogers, PE, Mechanical Engineer (Peterson Associates, pa); Cardiac Design Consultant, KMD Architects; Nancy Borum, IIDA, AIA Affiliate, Interior Design Principal-in-Charge; Susie Pizzo, IIDA, Interior Design Project Manager (ID Collaborative); Brad Ehrhardt, PE, Structural Engineer (Sutton-Kennerly & Associates)

Photography: © Architectural Image Group Photography by Stanley Caps; ©2006 Tim Buchman

Total building area (sq. ft.): 65,260

Construction cost/sq. ft.: $329

Total construction cost (excluding land): $21,500,000