Baptist Health Care’s new $650 million healthcare complex opened recently in Pensacola, Fla. Featuring a 10-story, 268-bed hospital, the project “represents the single-largest investment in the healthcare history of northwest Florida,” said Gresham Smith project executive Robert “Skip” Yauger, AIA, LEED AP.
The 602,000-sf Baptist Hospital is equipped with a Level II trauma center that provides 61 exam rooms and three triage areas. Other services include critical care areas, a mother-baby unit, surgery department with 25 procedure and operating rooms, specialty cardiac care treatment and procedure rooms. The building was designed with extra space for future expansion.
The project includes a six-story, 178-000 sf medical services building, the Bear Family Foundation Health Center. This facility houses multi-specialty services including oncology, women’s health, outpatient imaging, bariatrics, and cardiology. It also includes a conference center that will be used for public events, health education, and community outreach. A separate facility, a 72-bed behavioral health unit brings much needed behavioral health services to the community.
“This project to replace our 73-year-old legacy campus with a more modern, technologically advanced and accessible location was a generational opportunity for us,” says Baptist Health Care president and CEO Mark Faulkner. “This campus will raise the bar for health care experiences, safety, quality, and efficiency for generations to come.”
The 57-acre campus is organized around a park-like town square featuring groves of heritage oak trees. Amenities include walking paths, respite areas, and outdoor event spaces. The exterior of each building pays homage to the historical character of Pensacola’s local buildings and celebrates the natural surroundings of the beach community. Warm terracotta and shades of sandy white contrast to mark building entrances. Large spans of glass flood the interior with natural light.
The buildings were designed to be resilient to hurricanes. Durable materials, including precast concrete panels and impact glazing that surpass code minimum, and a hardened building structure and envelope, will withstand hurricane force winds and rain. Redundant electrical supplies and potable water systems will enable the hospital to operate off-grid during an emergency.
The interior of each building takes cues from the exterior design, using handcrafted materials, such as wood, bronze, and terrazzo, to create a warm, welcoming environment. Drawing inspiration from the oaks in the town square, large scale light fixtures reference sunlight streaming through Spanish moss. Planters and full-height windows bring the outdoors inside.
To aid with wayfinding, every patient destination on the first floor is accessible from the primary public concourse, while staff and materials circulation is separated in a secondary circulation system. Reminiscent of light reflecting over the ocean at sunrise or sunset, the color palette shifts colors at each level of the building. Transparent and translucent glass reduce patient anxiety at clinical entries, which are denoted by accent lighting, wood ceiling treatments and large-scale graphics. Lightwells bring daylight deep into the building’s core.
Owner: Baptist Health Care
Architect, MEP engineer, structural engineer: Gresham Smith
General contractor/construction manager: Brasfield & Gorrie
![New $650 million Baptist Health Care complex opens in Pensacola](/sites/default/files/inline-images/BaptistHealthPensacola_004%206%20%281%29.jpg)
![New $650 million Baptist Health Care complex opens in Pensacola](/sites/default/files/inline-images/BaptistHealthPensacola_003%206.jpg)
![New $650 million Baptist Health Care complex opens in Pensacola](/sites/default/files/inline-images/BaptistHealthPensacola_001%206.jpg)
![New $650 million Baptist Health Care complex opens in Pensacola](/sites/default/files/inline-images/BaptistHealthPensacola_006%206.jpg)
![New $650 million Baptist Health Care complex opens in Pensacola](/sites/default/files/inline-images/BaptistHealthPensacola_005%206.jpg)
![New $650 million Baptist Health Care complex opens in Pensacola](/sites/default/files/inline-images/BaptistHealthPensacola_004%206.jpg)
Related Stories
| Oct 15, 2014
Harvard launches ‘design-centric’ center for green buildings and cities
The impetus behind Harvard's Center for Green Buildings and Cities is what the design school’s dean, Mohsen Mostafavi, describes as a “rapidly urbanizing global economy,” in which cities are building new structures “on a massive scale.”
| Oct 13, 2014
Debunking the 5 myths of health data and sustainable design
The path to more extensive use of health data in green building is blocked by certain myths that have to be debunked before such data can be successfully incorporated into the project delivery process.
| Oct 12, 2014
AIA 2030 commitment: Five years on, are we any closer to net-zero?
This year marks the fifth anniversary of the American Institute of Architects’ effort to have architecture firms voluntarily pledge net-zero energy design for all their buildings by 2030.
| Oct 8, 2014
Massive ‘healthcare village’ in Nevada touted as world’s largest healthcare project
The $1.2 billion Union Village project is expected to create 12,000 permanent jobs when completed by 2024.
| Oct 3, 2014
Designing for women's health: Helping patients survive and thrive
In their quest for total wellness, women today are more savvy healthcare consumers than ever before. They expect personalized, top-notch clinical care with seamless coordination at a reasonable cost, and in a convenient location. Is that too much to ask?
| Sep 29, 2014
10 common deficiencies in aging healthcare facilities
VOA's Douglas King pinpoints the top issues that arise during healthcare facilities assessments, including missing fire/smoke dampers, out-of-place fire alarms, and poorly constructed doorways.
| Sep 25, 2014
Look to history warily when gauging where the construction industry may be headed
Precedents and patterns may not tell you all that much about future spending or demand.
| Sep 24, 2014
Architecture billings see continued strength, led by institutional sector
On the heels of recording its strongest pace of growth since 2007, there continues to be an increasing level of demand for design services signaled in the latest Architecture Billings Index.
| Sep 23, 2014
Cedars-Sinai looks to streamline trauma care with first-of-its-kind OR360 simulation space
The breakthrough simulation center features moveable walls and a modular ceiling grid that allow doctors and military personnel to easily reconfigure the shape and size of the space.
| Sep 22, 2014
4 keys to effective post-occupancy evaluations
Perkins+Will's Janice Barnes covers the four steps that designers should take to create POEs that provide design direction and measure design effectiveness.