Southwest Washington Medical Center, E.W. and Mary Firstenburg Tower

Single-occupancy patient rooms and landscaped pathways designed to support human healing.

The design of the E.W. and Mary Firstenburg Tower supports Southwest Washington Medical Center’s 150-year-old mission of service to its patients, their families, the facility’s staff, and the surrounding community. It creates an environment of comfort, ease, and familiarity to help mitigate some of life’s most stressful and life-altering moments. It elevates the boundaries of traditional health care design to balance craft with space dedicated to the human experience—one that strengthens the social dimension of healing. And through careful attention to detail, inspired by nature, it enables a patient’s path to recovery—one from dependence to independence.

The E.W. and Mary Firstenburg Tower is part of the first phase of a master plan to create a new campus for the aging infrastructure and rapidly growing community of this hospital, one of the oldest surviving hospitals west of the Rocky Mountains.

As the first piece of complete campus renewal, the design transformed an asphalt-covered parking lot into lush healing garden and landscaped community. Three hundred varieties of trees and 3,000 plantings were dispersed among the campus’ seven new gardens.

The 307,000 square-foot, eight-story tower nearly doubles Southwest’s medical, surgical and key support services, including 144 private, single-occupancy patient rooms with family and visitor spaces, 15 state-of-the-art surgery suites, six interventional suites, a 3,370 square foot outdoor staff-only “secret” garden, the Heart and Vascular Center, the Bone and Joint Center, and the Brain and Spinal Center. Sixty new underground parking spaces providing patients with a private means to exit after surgery.

To enable the progression from patient room, found in the core of the hospital, to the gardens outside, the design created spaces where family can be involved in the healing process. It also infuses the healing power of nature into almost every aspect of the healing environment. Patient rooms are single-occupancy to enable faster healing. Rooms are angled to give patients easier access to expansive views and natural light. “Perches” were designed outside each patient room to serve as a patient porch, a family waiting area, and a physician/family area to consult. The landscaped pathways and gardens provide several options for regaining strength at various intervals of recovery: pathways close to the hospital are designed to support those who are less independent, while paths further away encourage outdoor activity.

Formal name of project: Southwest Washington Medical Center, E.W. and Mary Firstenburg Tower

Location: Vancouver, Washington

Gross square footage: 476,526 sq.ft.

Completion Date: December 2007

Owner:
Southwest Washington Medical Center

Architect:
NBBJ
223 Yale Avenue North
Seattle, Washington  98109
Tel:206-223-5555

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