From: Sierra Vista Herald

Hospital’s Design Took in the Ideas of Many

Architect: ‘Everyone had a vision’

SIERRA VISTA — For Mike Jones, a key component of designing a new hospital is the input of the community for which the new facility will serve.

And so it was for the soon to open Canyon Vista Medical Center, which will replace the more than half century old Sierra Vista Regional Health Center.

The object of designing a hospital is to listen, adjust and incorporate input to achieve a healthcare facility which meets the needs of a community, he said.

With rapid changes in the medical arena, incorporating new technologies, services and resources that the professional staffs’ need to provide quality healthcare cannot be overlooked, Jones said.

An architect’s responsibility is to understand “the vision and to translate that vision into a functional solution,” he said. The Canyon Vista Medical Center concept incorporates the latest in evidence based design along with the blending of the local community’s vision and mission, the architect said.

From his many trips to the area, Jones said as the design was developed and reviewed, he saw “an excitement from the community grow as their ideas and concepts were translated into the final design.”

Jones, a partner for nearly 35 years at Gould Turner Group, a Nashville, Tennessee based architecture, planning & interior design firm, has personally had a hand in designing more than 50 new hospitals. He made numerous “listening trips” to Sierra Vista gathering information for the ultimate design of our community’s new four-story modern structure.

The design is based on “a consensus of the collaboration,” he noted.

When it comes to the colors, the goal was to create an artistic cohesive flow with the local Arizona landscape, he said, adding the interior also continues the exterior color palette, creating a comfortable atmosphere throughout the facility, much of which will be highlighted by art work.

The patient areas have private rooms with exterior views of the local beauty offering an additional sense of healing, the architect said. There is no “follow the yellow brick road” to go from one place to another in the building. The layout is specifically designed on each floor to simplify the movement of patients as their care needs are met by the hospital staff, Jones said.

The medical center’s design incorporates “accessibility for patients, staff and visitors,” Jones said.

The 177,000 square foot new medical center, which can be expanded easily, eliminates the many twists and turns experienced in the older facility which came about after years of renovations of a small piece of property and as the community along with its health care needs grew, he said.