Project category: New construction & Remodel/Renovation (completed December 2004)

Chief administrator: Gary Riedmann, President and CEO, (712) 792-3581

Firm: Horty Elving, (612) 332-4422

Design team: Leo Monster, Project Principal; Tim Rice, Project Architect; Linda Engel, CID, Project Interior Designer; Jim Elving, PE, Project Engineer (Horty Elving); Craig Blahut, PE, Structural Engineer (Innovative Structural Solutions, PA)

Photography: Dale Photographics

Total building area (sq. ft.): 43,900 (new); 43,000 (renovation)

Construction cost/sq. ft.: $148 (total)

Total construction cost (excluding land): $12,850,000 (total)

The goal of St. Anthony Regional Hospital was to create a place for healing and recovery—a place where patients come first. A sense of place is created on many levels, from the main entry and atrium to the patient-care units to a comfortable place for a loved one to sit near a patient’s bed. Space was designed and crafted for patients, families, and caregivers.

The project created private rooms for all patients and reduced noise and congestion. A secondary goal of the facility was to retain quality staff and make the facility efficient and effective, facilitating a closer relationship between patient and caregiver.

The existing third floor was renovated to accommodate four nursing units, and the addition created three new nursing units. The two portions are fused with a monumental three-story atrium. The atrium, complete with a waterwall and comfortable spaces for gathering, provides a main entry for the entire campus and serves as a primary orientation space.

Each nursing unit consists of six to eight beds. Shared services include med rooms, utility rooms, storage, staff toilet, and nourishment areas. These support areas help separate service traffic and congestion from patients and visitors.

The critical care unit is designed to allow closer and more immediate connection with the nursing station that serves it. Sliding glass doors offer patients and families acoustic privacy yet permit caregivers direct visual access to each room and patient.

Patient rooms were designed in zones: the nursing work zone, the patient zone, and the family zone. The nursing work zone has storage for basic equipment and supplies, as well as a workstation and a hand-wash lavatory. The patient zone consists of the bed, wardrobe, television, headwall, flower shelf, whiteboard, and a side chair. The family zone has a daybed and a large window for natural light and connection to the outside. It is linked to the patient zone by a shared side chair.

All lighting needs in patient and public areas are met with wall sconces and other indirect lighting, with the exception of task lights at the nurses’ workstations. The lack of overhead lighting not only keeps lights from shining in a patient’s eyes, but also eliminates the potential strobe effect patients can experience when being wheeled down a corridor.

A unique space was designed for everyone and everything, creating a strong sense of place and infusing the space with a sense of calm and peacefulness.