Veterans Affairs Medical Center
Boston, Mass.
Payette Associates Inc.

The clarification of access and egress through an addition unifies an entire campus

© Peter Vanderwarker

For more photos click on 'photos & drawings' above. To see the people and products behind this project click on 'people & products.'

This new ambulatory care addition houses three major departments: an ambulatory care complex, a walk-in emergency department, and a surgical suite. Each of these represents a new model for patient care delivery marking a dramatic change from the existing practices at the VA hospital. The ambulatory care clinic includes 90 examination rooms organized into five modules. Each module contains a suite of consultation rooms, intern teaching areas, and administrative support spaces. This layout improves patient privacy and optimizes staff effectiveness, while accommodating teaching and training. The emergency department is a non-trauma, walk-in center with ten private observation stations and three isolation rooms. The surgical suite contains eight operating rooms, including four ORs for critical procedures such as open-heart surgery, two general ORs, and two medical procedure rooms.

The existing medical center, a 14-story white metal, panel-clad tower, was built in the 1950s adjacent to a residential neighborhood. The architect’s design for the addition reorders the entire campus by placing the addition along the primary street wall and improving pedestrian and vehicular routes. A new turnaround/drop-off/pick-up area is centrally located on the medical campus and creates a new gateway to the interior healing environment. A lit canopy leads the patient from the reception desk in the lobby waiting area to clinical examination modules. Internal circulation is ordered around large, two-story public waiting areas.

The addition is detached from the hospital tower and sited closer to the street to create a series of courtyards, which provide patients and staff with an outdoor area for conversation, relaxation, and reflection. The courtyards allow natural light into both the lower floor of the new building and the existing hospital. Paving patterns intersect a two-story glass wall in the lobby continuing seamlessly from one courtyard to another through the interior of the lobby to bring life and energy from the exterior into the public waiting areas.

Formal name of Project:
Ambulatory Care Addition
Veterans Affairs Medical Center

Location:
Boston, Mass.

Gross square footage:
105,000 sq. ft.

Total Construction Cost:
$ 25.5 million

Owner:
Department of Veterans Affairs
Boston, Mass.