Seton Medical Center, Surgery/Emergency Department
Austin, Tex.
Page Southerland Page

A fresh, modern face is given to this hospital expansion

© Tim Griffith

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

Seton Medical Center took the need to expand its surgery area as an opportunity to upgrade the rather heavy, dour visage of its 1970s vintage brick facility. Part of the scope of the project became the creation of a new front door for the facility that would be bright, positive, and forward-looking.

Though tied visually to the original hospital by low brick walls and shared rhythms and proportions, the new building offers a new visual character for the medical center through a combination of glass and light. A long thin volume faced with glass is stretched along the street side of the addition in order to bring light down into recovery rooms that were sited below grade. At night, the glass volume is lit from within providing a glowing presence at the entry to the medical complex. A broad, welcoming canopy is sheathed with a similar back-lit glass skin that turns into clerestory windows for the entry hall as it intersects with the bulk of the building. A delicate light-filled chapel with an intimate garden opens onto the entry hall opposite the primary reception room for outpatient surgery.

The surgery center addition contains 13 operating rooms, 72-day hospital pre/post recovery rooms, and a new patient admitting and testing center. Recovery rooms are organized into well ordered nodes around nursing stations with an extraordinary amount of daylight compared to similar facilities elsewhere. The expansion increases the hospital’s surgery capacity by 29 percent while also giving it a fresh new look that feels precise and progressive, warm and secure.

Formal name of Project:
Seton Medical Center, Surgery/Emergency Department

Location:
Austin, Texas

Gross square footage:
110,000 sq. ft.-New, 75,000 sq. ft.-Renovation

Total construction cost:
$27.5 million

Owner:
Daughters of Charity, Seton Healthcare Network

Architect:
Page Southerland Page, LLP
606 West Avenue
Austin, Texas 78701
(512) 472-6721 Phone
(512) 477-3211 Fax
www.psp.com