Designers tried to put themselves in the shoes of cancer patients when they planned the Hughes Cancer Center, says Andrew Jarvis, principal with EwingCole architects, adding that cancer patients are repeat visitors who get bored and need new things to look at.
So garden views are featured, infusion stations have sliding doors to offer either privacy or company, and radiation patients lying on their backs have flat-screen television to watch on the ceilings. The gardens include native plants, while the lobby features several examples of the area's many boulders that glaciers deposited centuries ago.
Architects received direction to create a building providing “tangible evidence” that patients in Eastern Pennsylvania don't need to travel to New York or Philadelphia for quality care, Jarvis says. The facility's flexible design includes the necessary infrastructure to expand up to three more stories. A bridge connecting the Hughes building to the medical center makes it possible for future expansions to be used for inpatient care.