This new acute care medical center and adjacent medical office buildings represent a $35-million+ investment in the future of healthcare for the tristate community. Located approximately two miles from the converging borders of Arizona, California, and Nevada, the facility serves a broad and geographically diverse population along a main north/south thoroughfare.

The massing of the building suggests a mesa positioned above the horizontal lines of the desert floor. The sun follows the arching rooflines, mimicking sunrise and sunset in the desert sky. Adobe textures and wooden vegas are inspired by local architecture. Clerestory windows in an Indian snow cloud motif flood natural light through core spaces, creating a soft glow on the skyline during nighttime hours.

Interior spaces reflect a Spanish Mission influence, through the use of coffered ceilings, wooden vegas, and stone. The lobby is patterned after a Spanish courtyard, and arched light niches and ceiling brackets reinforce the influence of the Spanish Mission style. Admission cubicles feature privacy glass etched with impressionistic engravings of a Mohave Indian garment and symbols signifying energy and longevity. Curves in flooring materials and ceiling soffits reflect the curves of the nearby Colorado River.

Project category: New construction (completed December 2005)

Chief administrator: Ruth McDaniel, CEO, (928) 288-2273

Firm: Gould Turner Group, PC, (615) 297-3122

Design team: Michael A. Jones, AIA, Principal-in-Charge; Leonard W. Simms, RA, Project Manager; Tiana N. Lemons, NCIDQ, Interior Designer (Gould Turner Group, PC); Thomas S. Tarpy, Jr., PhD, Principal, Structural Engineering (Stanley D. Lindsey and Associates, Ltd.); Jeff D. Heinze, Principal, Civil Engineering (Littlejohn Engineering Associates, Inc.); Spivey Lipsey, PE, Principal, MEP Engineering (Nash Lipsey Burch, LLC)

Photography: © Rion Rizzo, Creative Sources Photography

Total building area (sq. ft.): 103,574

Construction cost/sq. ft.: $188

Total construction cost (excluding land): $19,500,000


Just as a river branches, the new hospital is designed to grow with the community’s needs, merging nature with technology. The building is designed using a suite concept along a public spine, which originates in the main central lobby. Patient transport and service supplies occur along secondary pathways, separate from public traffic. Each major medical service suite is located along the spine.