The Don Knabe Wellness Center & Plaza design-build team of Taylor Design, McCarthy Building Cos. Inc., SmithGroupJJR, and Los Angeles Department of Public Works was recently honored at the 47th Annual Los Angeles Architectural Awards hosted by the Los Angeles Business Council (LABC) on June 22 at the Beverly Hilton. The Don Knabe Wellness Center & Plaza design-build team received the award in honor of its design excellence and innovation.

More than 200 projects competing in categories ranging from education and healthcare to housing and commercial office space vied for this year’s Architectural Awards.

A winner in the New Construction, Healthcare category, the Don Knabe Wellness Center & Plaza is only the first phase of a $460 million renovation at Rancho Los Amigos National Rehabilitation Center, a hospital for rehabilitative medicine. The design concept is reflective of textiles and the layering of materials incorporating a nod to the site’s past use of textile weaving as occupational therapy. Textured concrete panels and an undulating metal roof scrim visually weave the modern structure together with the original poured-in-place buildings. The perforated scrim, evoking the site’s historically prolific orange trees, helps to control daylight, reduce energy demands, and provide a protected pathway for pedestrians. The lobby acts as a continuation of the central plaza, allowing patients to learn to adapt to the external conditions they will face when they leave the hospital by literally opening their doors to the landscape. Rancho Los Amigos cares for approximately 4,000 inpatients each year, and services 71,000 outpatient visits each year.