In Duluth, Minn., the new St. Mary’s Medical Center, designed by EwingCole, is now the largest healthcare facility in the region. The hospital consolidates Essentia Health’s healthcare services under one roof.
At about 1 million sf spanning two city blocks, St. Mary’s overlooks Lake Superior, providing views on almost every floor of the world’s largest freshwater lake. All of the hospital’s inpatient rooms enjoy floor-to-ceiling views of the lake or the surrounding hillside. The dining commons and rooftop garden also offer views of Lake Superior.
While the exterior façade’s lower levels resemble the brownstone homes and businesses in downtown Duluth, the glass façade of the upper levels and patient tower evokes the neighboring lake. The building’s fritted glass also reduces solar heat gain inside.
The hospital’s interior aims to eschew traditional clinical design by embracing vibrant colors and nature to aid the healing process. Each floor’s interior design takes inspiration from a natural landscape in Duluth.
The design team constructed and tested a full-scale mockup of the building envelope to detect any air or moisture infiltration that could affect energy performance and indoor air quality. As a result, the team achieved a 24% reduction in energy consumption and a 26% reduction in energy costs.
As part of the project’s sustainability measures, almost 1 million sf of the building’s acoustic ceiling panels were manufactured about a half-hour away, reducing travel time and greenhouse gas emissions. EwingCole also selected a nearby single-source manufacturer of the custom glazing system, decreasing transportation emissions. And the team reduced the building’s embodied carbon by replacing Portland cement with cement substitutes.
The hospital’s narrow, aerodynamic form eliminates wind turbulence around the entrances and rest areas, minimizes its impact on views to and from the lake, and limits its impact on bird migration. In addition, the design team’s early wind modeling enabled it to refine the structural system so that it required less steel.
On the Building Team:
Owner: Essentia Health
Design architect: EwingCole
Architect of record: EwingCole and LHB
MEP and structural engineer: EwingCole
General contractor: McGough
![](/sites/default/files/inline-images/In%20Duluth%2C%20Minn.%2C%20the%20new%C2%A0St.%20Mary%E2%80%99s%20Medical%20Center%2C%20designed%20by%20EwingCole%2C%C2%A0is%20now%20the%20largest%20healthcare%20facility%20in%20the%20region%206.jpeg)
![](/sites/default/files/inline-images/In%20Duluth%2C%20Minn.%2C%20the%20new%C2%A0St.%20Mary%E2%80%99s%20Medical%20Center%2C%20designed%20by%20EwingCole%2C%C2%A0is%20now%20the%20largest%20healthcare%20facility%20in%20the%20region%2011.jpeg)
![](/sites/default/files/inline-images/In%20Duluth%2C%20Minn.%2C%20the%20new%C2%A0St.%20Mary%E2%80%99s%20Medical%20Center%2C%20designed%20by%20EwingCole%2C%C2%A0is%20now%20the%20largest%20healthcare%20facility%20in%20the%20region%205.jpeg)
![](/sites/default/files/inline-images/In%20Duluth%2C%20Minn.%2C%20the%20new%C2%A0St.%20Mary%E2%80%99s%20Medical%20Center%2C%20designed%20by%20EwingCole%2C%C2%A0is%20now%20the%20largest%20healthcare%20facility%20in%20the%20region%20100.jpeg)
![](/sites/default/files/inline-images/In%20Duluth%2C%20Minn.%2C%20the%20new%C2%A0St.%20Mary%E2%80%99s%20Medical%20Center%2C%20designed%20by%20EwingCole%2C%C2%A0is%20now%20the%20largest%20healthcare%20facility%20in%20the%20region%204.jpeg)
![](/sites/default/files/inline-images/In%20Duluth%2C%20Minn.%2C%20the%20new%C2%A0St.%20Mary%E2%80%99s%20Medical%20Center%2C%20designed%20by%20EwingCole%2C%C2%A0is%20now%20the%20largest%20healthcare%20facility%20in%20the%20region%209.jpeg)
![](/sites/default/files/inline-images/In%20Duluth%2C%20Minn.%2C%20the%20new%C2%A0St.%20Mary%E2%80%99s%20Medical%20Center%2C%20designed%20by%20EwingCole%2C%C2%A0is%20now%20the%20largest%20healthcare%20facility%20in%20the%20region%203.jpeg)
![](/sites/default/files/inline-images/In%20Duluth%2C%20Minn.%2C%20the%20new%C2%A0St.%20Mary%E2%80%99s%20Medical%20Center%2C%20designed%20by%20EwingCole%2C%C2%A0is%20now%20the%20largest%20healthcare%20facility%20in%20the%20region%2067.jpeg)
![](/sites/default/files/inline-images/In%20Duluth%2C%20Minn.%2C%20the%20new%C2%A0St.%20Mary%E2%80%99s%20Medical%20Center%2C%20designed%20by%20EwingCole%2C%C2%A0is%20now%20the%20largest%20healthcare%20facility%20in%20the%20region%202.jpeg)
![](/sites/default/files/inline-images/In%20Duluth%2C%20Minn.%2C%20the%20new%C2%A0St.%20Mary%E2%80%99s%20Medical%20Center%2C%20designed%20by%20EwingCole%2C%C2%A0is%20now%20the%20largest%20healthcare%20facility%20in%20the%20region%207.jpeg)
![](/sites/default/files/inline-images/In%20Duluth%2C%20Minn.%2C%20the%20new%C2%A0St.%20Mary%E2%80%99s%20Medical%20Center%2C%20designed%20by%20EwingCole%2C%C2%A0is%20now%20the%20largest%20healthcare%20facility%20in%20the%20region.jpeg)
Related Stories
| Sep 22, 2014
Sound selections: 12 great choices for ceilings and acoustical walls
From metal mesh panels to concealed-suspension ceilings, here's our roundup of the latest acoustical ceiling and wall products.
| Sep 20, 2014
Healthcare conversion projects: 5 hard-earned lessons from our experts
Repurposing existing retail and office space is becoming an increasingly popular strategy for hospital systems to expand their reach from the mother ship. Our experts show how to avoid the common mistakes that can sabotage outpatient adaptive-reuse projects.
| Sep 19, 2014
8 hot healthcare projects win interior design awards
Winners of IIDA's 2014 Healthcare Interior Design Competition include Perkins+Will, AECOM, Buffalo Design, and SmithGroupJJR, for projects from Cincinnati to Toronto.
| Sep 15, 2014
Ranked: Top international AEC firms [2014 Giants 300 Report]
Parsons Brinckerhoff, Gensler, and Jacobs top BD+C's rankings of U.S.-based design and construction firms with the most revenue from international projects, as reported in the 2014 Giants 300 Report.
| Sep 15, 2014
Perkins+Will unveils design for Ghana's largest hospital
The new hospital will be home to numerous hospital services including public health, accident and emergency, imaging, obstetrics, gynecology, dental, surgical, intensive care and administration.
| Sep 9, 2014
Using Facebook to transform workplace design
As part of our ongoing studies of how building design influences human behavior in today’s social media-driven world, HOK’s workplace strategists had an idea: Leverage the power of social media to collect data about how people feel about their workplaces and the type of spaces they need to succeed.
| Sep 7, 2014
Ranked: Top state government sector AEC firms [2014 Giants 300 Report]
PCL Construction, Stantec, and AECOM head BD+C's rankings of the nation's largest state government design and construction firms, as reported in the 2014 Giants 300 Report.
| Sep 7, 2014
Hybrid healthcare: Revamping inefficient inpatient units to revenue-producing outpatient care
It's happening at community hospitals all over America: leadership teams are looking for ways to maintain margins by managing underutilized and non-revenue producing space. GS&P's David Magner explores nontraditional healthcare models.
| Sep 7, 2014
Behind the scenes of integrated project delivery — successful tools and applications
The underlying variables and tools used to manage collaboration between teams is ultimately the driving for success with IPD, writes CBRE Healthcare's Megan Donham.
| Sep 4, 2014
Hospital CEOs, architects sound off on state of healthcare design
Healthcare construction will continue to feel the effects of radical changes in the delivery of care, according to healthcare leaders attending the annual Summer Leadership Summit of the American College of Healthcare Architects and the AIA Academy of Architecture for Health.