For more than 50 years, Family Tree Clinic has provided reproductive and sexual health services to underserved populations—from part of an old schoolhouse, until recently. Designed by Perkins&Will, the new Family Tree Clinic, which serves the LGBTQ community in the Minneapolis and St. Paul area, now can serve an additional 10,000 patients a year.
In addition to providing reproductive and sexual health services to the uninsured and under-insured, Family Tree Clinic offers comprehensive outreach education services statewide, focusing on health and sex education in schools, community settings, colleges, and correctional facilities. The organization also offers health education for the deaf, deaf-blind, and hard of hearing.
Of the clinic’s clients, 55 percent are BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color), 60 percent are LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or queer/questioning), and 70 percent live below the poverty line. These individuals had faced long waiting lists and barriers to medical care.
In 2017, Family Tree launched a plan for a new and improved facility. The building serves two main purposes: a welcoming oasis for patients, staff, and community members, and a safe, private, trauma-informed place of respite. On the first floor, the community and staff spaces are surrounded by glass, welcoming visitors inside. A protected courtyard provides outdoor respite for staff and community as well as daylight for the interior public spaces. Meanwhile, the clinic is located on the second floor toward the back of the building, ensuring privacy.
The structure’s simple brick volume matches the neighborhood’s scale and material pattern. The design team carefully chose materials that indicated permanence in the community. BIPOC and LGBTQ+ artists from the community covered the building with murals that express the power of healing.
On the Building Team:
Owner: Family Tree Clinic
Owner’s representative: Grand Real Estate Advisors
Design architect: Perkins&Will
Architect of record: Perkins&Will
MEP engineer: Victus Engineering
Structural engineer: BKBM Engineers
General contractor/construction manager: Greiner Construction
Related Stories
Healthcare Facilities | Apr 16, 2018
JE Dunn Construction and Hoefer Wysocki Architects selected for Sheppard Air Force Base Medical/Dental Clinic design-build contract
The project is targeting LEED Silver certification.
Healthcare Facilities | Mar 28, 2018
Sound health: How tranquility rooms can heal caregivers
Sound can also be healing. It promotes a culture of quietness and enhances environments, not just for patients but also for caretakers.
Healthcare Facilities | Mar 19, 2018
New York’s only freestanding pediatric health facility completed on the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus
Shepley Bulfinch designed the project.
Healthcare Facilities | Mar 5, 2018
Four tips for designing the hospital of the future
What exactly is the hospital of future? Or more specifically, what is the future of healthcare design?
Healthcare Facilities | Feb 28, 2018
Healthcare operations: The good and bad of the ‘visit per room per day’ metric
Merely pursuing a high “visit per room per day” metric may drive up other resource needs and, in turn, raise operational costs, writes HDR's Zhanting Gao.
Healthcare Facilities | Feb 21, 2018
New $412 million advanced research center hopes to attract scientists and clinicians in pediatric biomedical research
The Crump Firm is designing the project.
Healthcare Facilities | Feb 16, 2018
Cancer centers' 'one-stop shop'
Healthcare systems ask their AEC partners for design flexibility that is adjustable to advances in medicine and technology.
Healthcare Facilities | Feb 14, 2018
Satellite centers keep cancer treatment closer to patients' orbit
This treatment center is half new construction, half renovation of a building that had been used for family services.
Healthcare Facilities | Feb 1, 2018
Early supplier engagement provides exceptional project outcomes
Efficient supply chains enable companies to be more competitive in the marketplace.
Healthcare Facilities | Jan 30, 2018
Buffett, Bezos, Dimon partner to tackle the U.S. healthcare system
The three mega companies—Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway, and JPMorgan Chase—will pursue the formation of an independent company that is “free from profit-making incentives and constraints” when it comes to U.S. employee healthcare.