CommonSpirit Health St. Anthony North Hospital Tower Addition
A hospital expansion benefits from a highly collaborative client/design team, transforming the campus into a more inviting and effective healing environment for patients and caregivers.
Client
CommonSpirit Health
Location
Westminster, Colorado
Markets/Services
Health, Architecture, Interiors, Medical Planning
Size
133,000 SF
Built on the pillars of “convenience, wellness and person-centered care,” St. Anthony North Hospital delivers healthcare to a growing region of Colorado communities between Fort Collins and Denver.
To expand its services and accommodate increasing demand, CommonSpirit Health began planning for a new medical tower to house additional beds as well as shell space for future expansion.
The five-story, 133,000-square-foot tower addition enables CommonSpirit Health to provide quality inpatient and outpatient care at one comprehensive location for its expanding patient population. When the most viable option was to build the addition at the existing front entrance, it became an opportunity to update the hospital’s overall image as a nexus of warm, personal, world-class care. The solution not only added capacity and bolstered the system’s flexibility and resilience, it allowed the owner to introduce a new revenue-generating cancer service line years ahead of schedule.
Siting the tower at the existing front entrance also minimized site impacts, improved operational flow through the building and enhanced an existing atrium lobby, a key feature the hospital wished to preserve. The hospital remained fully functional throughout tower construction and fit-out.
The tower design capitalizes on the hospital’s location along the Front Range of the Rockies, with patient rooms sited along exterior walls and oriented to maximize views of the mountains. Offstage break rooms with views and open-air balconies provide a respite for staff. A large entrance canopy now seems to reach out and welcome visitors into the atrium, reconfigured with a new lobby, café and gift shop. Stone, wood and other natural materials create a seamless transition from this well-liked space to the new tower.
The cancer center has its own dedicated entrance for patients and visitors. The first in the region to provide comprehensive, advanced cancer care, it includes a 13-bay infusion center, radiation therapies including a linear accelerator and advanced high dose rate (HDR) brachytherapy, and a compounding pharmacy.
Above the cancer center, the tower’s second level houses a 30-bed med-surg unit, half of which are in infectious isolation rooms. On the third level, a 25-bed ICU floor includes 12 infectious isolation rooms. Due to the demand and the growth in the region, the fourth and fifth floors are under construction to be fit out as 30-bed med/surg units as well.
With its newest addition, St. Anthony North embodies the pillars of convenience, wellness and person-centered care, bringing world-class healthcare services to Coloradans close to home.
