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By Nancy B. Solomon, AIA

Treading lightly on the land

The Boulder Community Foothills Hospital is a new medical center for women and children on the outskirts of Boulder, Colorado. The facility, which currently includes a 154,000-square-foot, 60-bed hospital and a 67,000-square-foot outpatient-services building, opened its doors in September 2003. The first hospital to receive LEED certification, it was awarded a silver rating by the U.S. Green Building Council in December 2003 and received an honorable mention in the 2004 ASHE/AIA Vista Sustainable Building Awards program.

 

Boulder Community Foothills Hospital, Boulder, Colorado Fifty-five percent of all building materials were manufactured locally, of which more than half were also harvested locally. A master plan for the existing 49-acre greenfield site (above) emphasized carpooling, thus reducing paving to 75 percent of the parking area normally required (below). Renderings: Courtesy Boulder Associates

The board of directors of Boulder Community Hospital, which has been centrally located in the city for decades but began expanding in the 1980s with satellite campuses to serve an ever-growing suburban population, knew they wanted a green building when they hired the design team. City government and a few local organizations had already undertaken environmentally-friendly construction programs, and the hospital administrators felt that they should, too. Oz Architecture handled the core and shell of the building, while Boulder Associates was responsible for the medical architecture. Both firms are based in Boulder.

Although the 49-acre site was a greenfield—“it was the only property still available in Boulder that could accommodate such a facility,” explains Kristi Ennis, AIA, sustainable design director at Boulder Associates—the client pursued many other sustainable site strategies, including designating 32 acres of the campus as permanent open space.