The new Centro Hospitalario Serena del Mar (CHSM), the first hospital designed by Safdie Architects and the firm’s first project to open in Latin America, will provide a critical new resource for Cartagena, Colombia and the Caribbean region.
The hospital anchors the Safdie Architects-designed masterplan for the El Gran Canal civic district within Serena del Mar, a new 2,500-acre city currently in development on the Caribbean coast just north of Cartagena. CHSM is the first public-facing institution to open in the master-planned city, establishing Cartagena’s first full-service medical institution.
The teaching hospital offers comprehensive human-centered medical care and is premised on the notion that access to nature and daylight is vital to creating improved therapeutic experiences for patients, families, and staff. The hospital began a phased open to the public earlier this year with 158 beds. Phase 1 of the hospital comprises approximately 575,870 sf.
CHSM is conceived as a garden hospital overlooking a lake. The design offers patients, staff, and families access to a diverse array of gardens throughout the building including a linear bamboo courtyard, a healing garden associated with cancer treatment, and a series of lakeside gardens connected by a waterfront promenade.
Inpatient facilities are housing in five wings designed with shallow floor plates to maximize the spaces with direct proximity to windows, daylight, and views of the surrounding lake, hills, gardens, and courtyards. Even in areas such as emergency rooms, labs, and clinics, daylight and views to nature are maintained.
When 100% complete, CHSM will service the region with over 400 hospital beds. The completed project will span 753,480-sf of hospital facilities and gardens.
Related Stories
Healthcare Facilities | Mar 28, 2015
VA construction program ‘a disaster,’ says congressman
The VA construction program took more hits recently after the chairman of a congressional Committee on Veterans’ Affairs called an Aurora, Colo., hospital project “a disaster,” and a key VA official resigned abruptly.
Healthcare Facilities | Mar 23, 2015
Can advanced elevator technology take vertical hospitals to the next level?
VOA's Douglas King recalls the Odyssey project and ponders vertical transportation in high-rise healthcare design.
Healthcare Facilities | Mar 22, 2015
New Joplin, Mo., hospital built to tornado-resistant standards
The new hospital features a window and frame system that can protect patients from winds of up to 250 mph.
Healthcare Facilities | Mar 19, 2015
Grumman/Butkus Associates releases 2014 hospital energy and water benchmarking survey results
The survey results show that hospitals’ overall fossil fuel use has trended downward, but electricity use isn’t declining much.
Healthcare Facilities | Mar 18, 2015
Healthcare design partnership asks: What about the doctor?
HDR's Abbie Clary discusses the design of healthcare facilities and how they affect doctors.
Healthcare Facilities | Mar 16, 2015
Healthcare planning in a post-ACA world: 3 strategies for success
Healthcare providers are seeking direction on how to plan for a value-based world while still very much operating in a volume-based market. CBRE Healthcare's Curtis Skolnick offers helpful strategies.
Retail Centers | Mar 10, 2015
Retrofit projects give dying malls new purpose
Approximately one-third of the country’s 1,200 enclosed malls are dead or dying. The good news is that a sizable portion of that building stock is being repurposed.
Codes and Standards | Mar 5, 2015
Charlotte, N.C., considers rule for gender-neutral public bathrooms
A few other cities, including Philadelphia, Austin, Texas, and Washington D.C., already have gender-neutral bathroom regulations.
Healthcare Facilities | Mar 1, 2015
Are you ready for high-rise hospitals?
The vertical hospital environment may be the wave of the future, but it is not without its design challenges.
Healthcare Facilities | Feb 26, 2015
Florida lifts 14-year ban on nursing home construction
Some $430 million of new space for senior care in Florida has been approved after the state ended a 14-year ban on nursing home construction.