SOM’s Mount Sinai Hess Center for Science and Medicine has won a 2014 National Healthcare Design Award from the American Institute of Architects and the Academy of Architecture for Health.
Envisioned as a place of discovery and healing, the Hess Center is shaped by its translational research mission and urban context. Located in Upper Manhattan, the center places researchers, clinicians, educators, and patients in an integrated environment with state-of-the-art technology. The 11-story building is specifically designed to foster multi-disciplinary interaction through a network of formal and informal settings. The primary design objective was to craft a flexible environment that would be inspiring and supportive for employees while gracious and dignified for patients and their families. Inside, natural light and a warm, simple material palette puts cancer patients at ease.
According to a press release issued by the AIA, this awards program “showcases the best of healthcare building design and healthcare design-oriented research. Projects exhibit conceptual strengths that solve aesthetic, civic, urban, and social concerns as well as the requisite functional and sustainability concerns of a hospital.”