Memorial Hermann Katy Hospital, Houston, Texas, United States

New landmark hospital for Texas town
As one of the fastest growing suburban communities in Houston, Katy provided an ideal location for Memorial Hermann Healthcare System (MHHS) to build a new replacement hospital. The hospital and its distinctive architectural features serve as a landmark and leverage the high-visibility location at the crossroads of major Houston highways.

MHHS envisioned a patient-centric, latest-in-technology, healing environment as the core philosophy with which the building’s design was created. Contrasting from the busy hustle of the community, the interior design features make the experience of entering the hospital very quiet, relaxing and enjoyable. The hospital features a two-storey hotel-like atrium, a dining area overlooking an outdoor terrace and garden, warm colours and lighting, and rich wood and stone tile finishes. The curved bed tower, the gracious high ceilings in the public concourse and lobbies, the healing gardens, and way-finding graphics all imprint a memorable identity. Throughout the hospital, aesthetic aspects of healing were considered and many family-friendly elements were planned.

Katy’s $98-million seven-storey, 320,000 SF hospital has 127 private patient rooms. The initial phase included a healing garden, public concourse, surgery with 5 operating rooms, emergency department with 19 treatment rooms, an OB program with 7 LDR’s, 26 postpartum, 4 antepartum, 80 private medical / surgical beds and a 12-bed ICU.

The design of Katy’s hospital began as a prototype adapted to meet the specific demands of the location and market. Use of a prototype is uncommon for a not-for-profit healthcare system, but MHHS saw many benefits, including significant cost savings during design and construction, establishing best practices for lighting, flooring and finishes, and completing design and construction for both facilities in fewer than 30 months. MHHS has brought advanced medicine and practices to suburban areas of Houston, improving the lives of those communities. The Katy hospital was occupied in December 2006.

source: www.worldarchitecturenews.com
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