NEW CONSTRUCTION / MERIT

Entry Name: Bellevue Medical Center, Bellevue
Firm: HDR Architecture, Inc.
Owner: The Nebraska Medical Center
Photographer: Assassi Productions

This full-service community hospital is sited to insulate pedestrian traffic from heavy vehicular traffic on the adjacent highway, while also screening primary parking from view and allowing native landscaping along the roadway. Main components (hospital and medical office building) are physically joined by public/community elements comprised of a garden level conference center, café and a glazed main entry lobby. The glazed link visually separates the main components while simultaneously opening up views to a garden level plaza that features outdoor café seating and a small amphitheatre. The plaza then dissolves into a garden of native plants and existing wetlands.

Jury Comments: This typology can challenge its occupants emotionally and physically; the design brings pause to potentially difficult situations with compelling spaces and beautiful interiors. This is truly a problem solved through design.