For Immediate Release: July 21, 2006
Modern Hospital Design Arrives on the Texas Frontier
July 21, 2006 - Reeves County Hospital can now brandish its motto "Providing Modern Healthcare in Frontier Texas," with aesthetic authority since HGA Architects and Engineers (HGA) completed an 18,000-square-foot addition and overall updating of the existing hospital. Hospital administrators "wanted to modernize the whole aesthetic of the hospital," says Rob Meese, project manager and principal, HGA. "Originally built in 1974, the building was beyond tired. We brought the facility into the 21st century."
A small, rural community facility near the Pecos River in west Texas, Reeves County Hospital had long provided acute care to the residents of Reeves County and surrounding areas with a 49-bed hospital. But the hospital wanted to better serve its community with a modern facility that provided additional services such as an emergency room, clinic and kidney-dialysis unit.
Working with the client, HGA began by developing a facility master plan that examined the various ways in which the hospital could expand on its existing site, and provided square footage, rough cost estimates, and phases for implementation. "We essentially gave them a menu of options, so they could decide what fit into their plans," Meese says.
Modern Renovations. Rather than building a completely new hospital, Reeves opted for renovating the existing 50,000-square foot facility that included an ICU, birthing area, imaging area, patient rooms, nurse stations, and lobbies. They also decided to construct a new 17,297-square foot addition with its own entrance, emergency department, specialty clinics, a rural health clinic and a Dialysis Center. The Dialysis Center was needed to serve people throughout the region who have been forced to travel outside the area for dialysis.
To give the hospital "a modern, high-tech image," HGA stripped the exterior of its aging southwestern/Spanish-style aesthetic. Vigas, not of wood but of precast concrete, which had been implemented as sunshades, were replaced with louvered metal sunscreens to block the hot Texas sun. Similarly, HGA modernized the hospital's front entrance with a cultured-stone clock tower and shorter stone tower that bisect the circular metal sunscreen and copper-mesh canopy, which is supported by simple white pillars. New cast-letter signage was backlit to provide the hospital with a strong visual presence and graphic identity.
HGA repeated elements of the front entrance in the new emergency entry on the addition's west side. Instead of a full circle, the metal sunscreen and copper-mesh canopy is a quarter of a circle. Again, the canopy is held up by simple white supports and embraced by two cultured-stone towers of different heights. Here, the cast-iron letters were affixed to the taller tower and lit for high visibility.
Circular Interiors. HGA continued the circular motif inside the existing building and addition, not only to bring the outside in, but also to "create some unifying features" throughout the facility, explains Christine Vickery, interior designer, HGA. Circular soffits above nurses' stations and reception desks are repeated in tile circles on the floor.
In lobbies, the circular soffits, in addition to round recessed lighting, also break up the rigid right angles and add variation to the rectilinear buildings. To keep the design aesthetically cleaner, simple and straightforward, the team infused the interiors with a modern aesthetic.
Existing ceiling beams, which were a 1970s brown and rough-hewn, Vickery says, were cleaned and painted. HGA also inserted a ceiling beam in a lobby in the new building to provide continuity between the old and new structures. The exterior's cultured stone was brought indoors as accent columns.
Oak panels were added to nurses' stations and some walls to bring warmth and natural materials into the spaces. Some seating was retained and reupholstered in durable, colorful fabrics. The hospital's former "bus-station seating," Vickery says, was replaced with comfortable two-seat sofas. Drawing inspiration from the desert landscape and nearby Pecos River, Vickery incorporated sage green, dusty yellow and clear blue in floor tiles, on soffits, and as wall and beam colors.
"These are cool, soothing colors naturally found in the area," Vickery says. "Wherever we abutted existing finishes, instead of drawing a harsh line between new and old, we created seamless transitions. "Because we know this upgrade has to endure for 30-plus years, we used color very carefully. And we designed for what people now expect in a hospital setting-less institutional, and more comfortable and inviting, with waiting spaces that include daylight, pattern and color."
Working with Texas Heat, Minnesota Style. Because the hospital is located in an extremely hot and dusty area, durable tile floors provide a cool, easy-to-clean surface underfoot. To control cooling costs, HGA insulated the roof, installed high and narrow strip windows in the dialysis room (to provide daylight and privacy without heat gain), and sited windows for maximum light and minimal heat.
"The harsh west Texas climate is opposite of Minnesota, where our offices are," Meese explains. "So for Reeves Hospital we used many of the same siting and daylighting techniques we use in Minnesota, but for the opposite reasons."
With its renovations, new addition and modern atmosphere, Reeves County Hospital continues to fulfill its mission to provide healthcare services to its community, county and adjacent West Texas communities.
HGA Contact: Julie Luers (612) 758-4000 e-mail JLuers@hga.com
Media Contact: Susan Evans, Evans Larson (612) 338-6999 e-mail susan@evanslarson.com