VA San Antonio Polytrauma Center
Employing Planetree principles designed to reflect healing, balance, and its critical mission of rehabilitation through the built form, the Veterans Affairs San Antonio Polytrauma Rehabilitation Center features supportive areas for patients and families, ample natural light, and a variety of large and small spaces.
Client
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
Location
San Antonio, Texas
Markets/Services
Acute Care, Ambulatory Care, Architecture, Fire Protection and Life Safety Engineering, Government Health, Health, Interiors, Landscape Architecture, Lighting Design, Medical Planning, MEP Engineering, Programming, Rehabilitation, Structural Engineering, Veterans and Military Health
Size
145,535 SF
Featured Awards
Gold Award, Building Design + Construction Building Team Awards, 2012
More of our wounded are surviving, and more of them are permanently disabled by devastating injuries. They had the will to survive. We owe them the rest of the journey home.
—Eric K. Shinseki, Secretary of Veterans Affairs
The Polytrauma Rehabilitation Center, the newest and one of only five in the VA system, provides comprehensive interdisciplinary treatment in a healing and family-oriented environment. The polytrauma model of care supports cognitive, emotional, and physical rehabilitation for patients who have sustained multiple injuries and disabilities during military service.
The three-story center includes care and diagnosis in imaging assessment, traumatic brain injury, amputation, visual and hearing impairment, spinal cord injury wounds and psychological trauma. Natural and indoor lighting promotes well-being and reduces disorienting glare. A natural, calm finish palette conveys a feeling of stability and refuge.
An existing courtyard has been redesigned to create a therapeutic setting featuring a terrain park, where patients can practice navigating different surfaces, and an outdoor gathering area. Native plants provide a sustainable and local connection with the outdoors.