A redesign of the Mayo Clinic’s downtown campus in Rochester, Minn., centers around two new clinical high-rise buildings. The two nine-story structures will reach a height of 221 feet, with the potential to expand to 420 feet. Part of a multiyear strategic initiative, the two towers feature a skybridge that horizontally links them with the existing Gonda Building, allowing staff to traverse the site efficiently.
The skybridge is an integral part of a double-height social amenity level that will provide patients and loved ones with space to rest, connect, and recharge. This level will be clearly visible on the building’s façade, making it easy to locate from any part of the campus.
The design creates a new central point of arrival, with the north and south drop-offs converging at a unified main entrance. The existing Gonda Lobby will extend into the new facilities, simplifying wayfinding and creating a welcoming environment from the moment of arrival.
The design creates adjacencies in dynamic care “neighborhoods” that will streamline the patient experience. These community-centered neighborhoods will fuse services around patient needs and specific diseases, creating continuous care environments that will serve as patients’ homes while at the clinic.
Double-height winter gardens will be located at the center of care neighborhoods, uniting them, and providing light-filled spaces with spectacular views of the city. The atriums are both social and functional, providing opportunities for new forms of respite and healing or collaboration and care.
A universal grid along with generous floor-to-floor heights will allow clinical spaces to change over time and respond as healthcare continues to evolve. Care environments will be served behind the scenes by highly flexible technological infrastructure containing mechanical, data, and robotic delivery systems that support pioneering treatments while allowing prioritization of human connections.
Seamless integration of digital capabilities blurs traditional distinctions between inpatient, outpatient, and virtual care to support patients throughout their healthcare journey.
“This is a revolutionary moment for medical care and a complete rethinking of the traditional hospital building as we know it offering maximum flexibility for future needs, while ensuring that the interest of the patient remains at the heart of their healthcare,” says Norman Foster, founder and executive chairman, Foster + Partners. “Our design centers on natural light, views and connections with nature to facilitate new breakthroughs and help deliver the highest level of care with warmth and compassion.”
On the project team:
Owner: Mayo Clinic
Architects: Foster + Partners; CannonDesign
Engineers: CannonDesign is Engineer of Record. Burns and McDonnell is engineer of record for central plant upgrades, site electrical, and thermal utilities.
General Contractor: Gilbane Building Company
![Rendering: Dbox/Foster + Partners © 2023, courtesy Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research](/sites/default/files/inline-images/3128_FP878970.jpg)
![Rendering: Dbox/Foster + Partners © 2023, courtesy Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research](/sites/default/files/inline-images/3128_FP878972.jpg)
![Rendering: Dbox/Foster + Partners © 2023, courtesy Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research](/sites/default/files/inline-images/3128_FP878975.jpg)
![Rendering: Dbox/Foster + Partners © 2023, courtesy Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research](/sites/default/files/inline-images/3128_FP878976.jpg)
![Rendering: Dbox/Foster + Partners © 2023, courtesy Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research](/sites/default/files/inline-images/Rendering%20-%20Aerial.jpg)
![Rendering: Dbox/Foster + Partners © 2023, courtesy Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research](/sites/default/files/inline-images/Rendering%20-%20Winter%20View.jpg)
Related Stories
Sponsored | Flooring | Dec 7, 2016
Reading Hospital expansion project saves two months in construction schedule thanks to nora nTx
Construction delays are common with projects as large as the $354 million Reading Hospital expansion. Maybe that’s why construction manager Jeff Hutwelker, project executive with LF Driscoll Co., LLC, was so pleased with his nora® experience. By Hutwelker’s estimates, nora nTx saved approximately two months in his construction schedule.
Healthcare Facilities | Nov 30, 2016
Utilizing real estate to build physician networks
How hospitals can partner with their doctors to build an ambulatory network.
Healthcare Facilities | Nov 10, 2016
Prescription for success: Managing technology in the design of healthcare facilities
While the benefits of intelligently deployed technology are abundantly clear to both designers and healthcare end-users, it’s no simple task to manage the integration of technology into a building program.
Public Health Labs | Nov 3, 2016
Cutting-edge microscope facility opens on UMass Medical’s campus
Design and construction met rigorous requirements for sound, vibration, and temperature controls.
Healthcare Facilities | Oct 31, 2016
A world unbuilt: The moral implications of design
The communications challenges don’t even begin to compare to the inherent challenges of designing for a developing nation, writes CannonDesign's Michael McManus.
Sponsored | Healthcare Facilities | Oct 26, 2016
Rx for noise control at Virginia hospital: Large dose of acoustical ceilings
A myriad of acoustical ceiling solutions aid in patient comfort and recuperation.
Sponsored | Healthcare Facilities | Oct 24, 2016
Cyclotron streamlines isotope production
The 70 MeV, 140-ton cyclotron was manufactured by Ion Beam Applications (IBA) in Belgium.
Industry Research | Oct 20, 2016
New book from HDR explores opportunities for how healthcare organizations can reinvent the patient experience
Delta offers a close look at specific activities and behaviors that can help healthcare providers and caregivers discover revolutionary concepts to help them embrace and thrive in the rapid change that surrounds them.
Lighting | Oct 6, 2016
Healthcare systems lighting their way to savings
There has been a rapid improvement and availability of LED products as primary light sources in most healthcare facility applications.
Healthcare Facilities | Sep 28, 2016
Assisted living facility resembles a quaint American neighborhood
The design is not just meant to be aesthetically pleasing, but can also help patients with dementia and Alzheimer’s.