Improving Efficiency, Accumulating Knowledge

To help long-term client Bon Secours Mercy Health (BSMH) meet system goals for growth, standardization, and brand experience, GBBN has developed a new system of clinical prototypes. Adaptable to site, community, staff, and patient needs, the prototypes can be configured at various scales from large, regional medical centers to community and neighborhood clinics.

Given the predictable range of activities and procedures that take place within different types of clinics, the system of prototypes lays the groundwork for future designs, enabling designers and client stakeholders to more quickly zero in on project-specific issues and adaptations.

Typical floorplates are arranged between a primary circulation corridor and waiting area at the front of the building and a secondary, staff-oriented corridor at the back. Clinical modules can be stacked or shifted between these corridors to accommodate departmental and programmatic needs. The public-facing space up front enables patients and their families to enjoy natural light and a connection to the landscape while they wait. At the same time, the design supports a variety of material palettes to ensure the facility fits its immediate and regional context while maintaining brand consistency.

While speeding the delivery of new facilities to market, the prototypes also enable BSMH to gather information on clinical practices across its system so they can optimize standards for building systems, materials, and construction. As the prototypes are deployed across the BSMH system, they will continually be evaluated and refined to better meet staff and patient needs.

The prototypes not only ensure consistency of BSMH’s brand and healthcare environments (assuring patients they are receiving the highest quality of care), but they will contribute to BSMH’s effort to continuously improve the delivery of care. 

GBBN first developed this system at Mercy Health’s Deerfield Medical Center. It is currently being deployed at BSMH Simpsonville, BSMH Chester, and other facilities in Virginia, South Carolina, and Ohio.