Type of facility: Academic medical center
Client: Shanghai (China) University of Traditional Chinese MedicineProject architects: SmithGroup, Washington, D.C.; CNA Architecture, Bellevue, Wash.Construction Manager: N/A Completed: April 2005Size: 882,641gross square feetCost: 158 million (estimate)Cost per square foot: $179Shuguang Hospital in Shanghai is one of the first hospitals in China to balance Eastern and Western sensibilities in its philosophy and design. With an exterior as imposing as the Great Wallof China, the 883,000-square-foot, 728-bed hospital incorporates ancient Chinese practices such as feng shuiand its five elements offire, water, wood, earth and metal to maintain a spiritual balance.Chinese healing gardens play a large role in the exterior design; patients on the third floor of the hospital have access to a rooftop garden filled with traditional medicines such as ginseng, ginkgo biloba and ginger. Shuguang's atrium and layered glass-curtain walls filter natural light throughout the building's interior and also allow views of a courtyard and man-made river.Shuguang, a $158 million project for the Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, also addresses concerns that are peculiar to China, such as providing acupuncture for patients who adhere to strict, traditional Chinese medicine, which eschews surgery although the surgical facilities are very Western. Also, the hospital has a pharmacy that stocks thousands of plant, animal and mineral substances.Judges believe Shuguang's size and scale are appropriate for China's population and are equally impressed with the threading of Chinese culture throughout a Western-practice hospital without it looking "kitschy."
