EwingCole

A Call to Reimagine: From Functional Campus to Purposeful Place Reimagining a medical campus is not simply a matter of modernizing infrastructure or expanding capacity—it is a powerful opportunity to redefine how an institution delivers care, expresses its identity, and fosters a resilient community of healing, learning, and innovation. We believe the next generation of healthcare environments must move beyond functional efficiency to become places that elevate experience, embody institutional values, and adapt to the future of care delivery.

At the heart of our approach is a belief that thoughtful, cost-conscious design can be deeply transformative. Clearly defined constraints—of cost, space, legacy infrastructure, or community expectation—are not limitations but invitations to innovate.

These boundaries sharpen creativity, forcing the design process to focus on what truly matters: the people who give and receive care.

We work within these parameters to uncover opportunities to rethink not only how buildings are used, but how a campus can operate as an ecosystem of care, connection, and discovery.

REIMAGINING THE MEDICAL CAMPUS: A DESIGN APPROACH FOR TRANSFORMATION, IDENTITY, AND EXPERIENCE Essentia Health, Master Plan

Our integrated design approach unifies three core dimensions of the medical campus: the planning framework, the exterior brand identity, and the interior experience. Each component informs the others, creating a campus that is as operationally efficient as it is emotionally resonant.

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Reimagining the Campus Framework: A Platform for Growth, Flexibility, and Belonging The medical campus is more than a setting for healthcare delivery; it is a living framework that supports movement, memory, and meaning.

Reimagining this framework begins with a rigorous and empathetic analysis of existing conditions, paired with a vision for future adaptability. We explore the campus through three interrelated lenses: – Capacity and Constraints: We analyze what the site can support today and what it could support tomorrow—through zoning codes, land-use regulations, topography, and infrastructure capabilities. We identify both limitations and untapped potential, considering the costs of unlocking new space and the implications for long-term sustainability.

– Building Stock and Reuse Potential: We assess existing facilities for their physical condition, structural integrity, and adaptability to new programs. Where appropriate, we advocate for adaptive reuse to preserve embodied carbon and reduce capital expenditure—always balancing preservation with the demands of modern care delivery.

Amazon Campus

– Flow and Quality of Experience: We assess the physical and psychological dimensions of circulation—from public access to onstage/off-stage flows—and identify how site and building configurations can be reshaped to support more intuitive, inclusive, and healing experiences.

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We map the movement of patients, families, and staff, identifying bottlenecks, confusion points, and missed opportunities for positive engagement. We examine both logistical patterns and emotional thresholds, such as arrival moments, transitions from public to private zones, and access to daylight or green space.

To advance from insight to implementation, we begin overlaying programmatic needs and institutional priorities directly onto the site diagram. This allows us to explore the architectural implications of strategic goals in real time—from building dimensions and structural grids, to adjacencies, stacking, and site infrastructure. We evaluate the sequencing of care, the arrival and service experience, and the spatial relationships that underpin healing environments. The outcome is a spatial and experiential concept that is rooted in function, but shaped by aspiration—a comprehensive vision that reflects the future needs of the institution and is validated through scenario testing, cost analysis, and stakeholder input.

Dayananda Sagar University

Essentia Health, Master Plan

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Exterior Architecture as Brand: Making the Campus Legible and Aspirational The exterior of each building must do more than function—it must speak. The architecture of a reimagined campus becomes a vessel for brand identity, civic pride, and cultural alignment. Whether new or adapted, each facility must reflect the values of the institution while contributing to a coherent visual and spatial language across the campus.

Our process begins with efficient massing informed by program needs and site conditions.

From there, we collaborate with clients in visioning sessions to develop a shared language of form, materials, and landscape that expresses the institution’s mission.

To initiate this dialogue, we engage clients in structured visioning workshops, asking key questions: What are your aspirations? How do you define dignity, hope, or innovation in architectural terms? How should the building reflect the values of your brand? We align this dialogue with real-time cost modeling, ensuring that architectural ambition and financial reality evolve hand-in-hand.

Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, MSK Nassau

We translate brand values into architectural language by drawing from broad precedent imagery—selected from healthcare, hospitality, corporate, and research environments—to spark discussion. Clients respond to these visual references, identifying what aligns with their vision and what does not. Benchmarking trips may reinforce this process, offering tangible examples of how form and materiality convey institutional presence.

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Defining Your Brand

Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Specialty Care & Surgery Center

Jefferson Health, Ambulatory Care Center

From this shared exploration, we generate a range of exterior design options—each tailored to the unique goals and constraints of the project. These options are shaped not only by aesthetic preference, but also by how they support patient and visitor arrival, reinforce clinical function, and communicate meaning.

Whether the final direction emerges clearly or as a hybrid of multiple ideas, our belief remains firm: offering real choice ensures a collaborative process, grounding the final design in shared authorship between architect and client.

Core principles include:

Jefferson Health, Asplundh Cancer Pavilion

– Program-Informed Transparency and Opacity: We emphasize openness at lobbies, waiting areas, and other publicfacing zones—using glazing and view corridors to demystify care and create connection. Conversely, clinical and support areas are designed to protect privacy and reduce distractions, often using subtle shifts in material or fenestration to create appropriate thresholds.

The University of Pennsylvania Health System, Pavilion for Advanced Care

Good Samaritan Hospital, Radiology Department Expansion

Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, MSK Nassau

Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Specialty Care & Surgery Center

Bayhealth, Kent General Pavilion

– Contextual but Contemporary Design: Our buildings acknowledge and reflect their surroundings—through massing, materiality, and urban rhythm—while offering a forward-looking aesthetic that reflects institutional ambition. This creates a sense of belonging in the present and aspiration for the future.

– Visual Interest through Restraint: We create richness through rhythm and contrast: alternating solids and voids, layering textures, and framing views.

These strategies elevate modest materials, allowing architecture to communicate quality without excess.

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– Landscape as an Architectural Partner: We choreograph landscape and site elements— plazas, gardens, pathways—as extensions of the architecture. These elements define zones of activity and rest, promote wellness, and act as connective tissue between buildings and the wider campus.

– Efficient Construction Methodologies: We implement cost-effective solutions such as modular components, panelized façade systems, and standardized detailing to accelerate construction and ensure quality.

These tools also enable consistency and brand coherence across multi -phase projects.

Together, these strategies ensure that each structure contributes to a strong, unified campus identity—one that welcomes, inspires, and endures.

Essentia Health, St. Mary’s Medical Center

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Interior Design: Humanizing the Everyday Journey If the building exterior is the institution’s face, the interior is its heart. It is where healthcare becomes personal and where experience becomes a key dimension of care. Our approach to interior design centers empathy and inclusivity, integrating clinical logic with emotional resonance.

We begin by facilitating collaborative conversations with our clients: What should the patient experience feel like? How does your brand manifest in the language of interiors?

What values should be expressed through materials, light, space, and sequence?

We then map the interior experience from entry to exit—defining each point in the patient journey, identifying emotional touchpoints, and asking what each moment requires in terms of space and design. These insights guide the early planning and configuration of the building interior, informing adjacencies, zoning, and the choreography of movement.

With this framework in place, we explore thematic and sensory strategies that shape mood and memory. We present a range of spatial concepts and precedent imagery— spanning healthcare, hospitality, education, and the arts—allowing clients to visualize potential directions. Whether the final direction is a singular concept or a composite, our process supports iteration and collaboration, grounding each decision in shared intent.

Throughout, we use design to create environments that feel coherent, supportive, and alive with purpose.

City of Hope, Hope Plaza

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Key strategies include: – Choice and Flexibility: We design waiting areas and lounges as multifunctional spaces that provide a spectrum of experiences—from quiet reflection to family gathering, from distraction for children to workspace for adults. Every user should find an option that meets their need.

– Ageless and Inclusive Design: We craft interiors that serve all ages and abilities, considering everything from seat heights and lighting levels to sensory engagement and visual language. This ensures environments are universally welcoming and equitable.

– Durability with Dignity: We specify materials that are cleanable, resilient, and budget-aligned—but also warm, textural, and uplifting. We avoid institutional aesthetics in favor of calm, inviting palettes and tactile richness.

– Engagement and Distraction: We incorporate light, sound, color, and movement in ways that reduce anxiety and improve the quality of wait times.

Interactive elements, curated views, biophilic patterns, and storytelling components support emotional well-being.

– Operational Alignment: Our designs are shaped by emerging care models and lean operations. We accommodate teambased care, decentralized workstations, and direct-to-room strategies that enhance patient experience and staff efficiency.

– Equity and Empathy: We design for the full spectrum of lived experience. This includes multilingual signage, genderinclusive amenities, cultural touchpoints in artwork and finishes, and thoughtful accommodations for neurodiverse users.

Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, MSK Nassau

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– Minimized Medical Presence: Clinical equipment is integrated discreetly into the architectural fabric to reduce visual stress and maintain a welcoming atmosphere.

– Clear Onstage/Offstage Separation: Patient-facing areas are thoughtfully distinguished from clinical and operational zones, maintaining privacy, dignity, and efficiency.

Our process often includes immersive workshops with staff, patients, and leadership to ensure the design reflects the needs and aspirations of those who live and work within it. The result is an interior environment that supports performance while nurturing the human spirit.

Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, MSK Nassau

Jefferson Health, Asplundh Cancer Pavilion

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From Building to Campus: Grafting Identity Through Integrated Design The transformation of a campus happens building by building—but each project must be more than a discrete improvement. It must be a carefully grafted extension of the larger campus identity. We think of this process as a fusion of architecture, infrastructure, landscape, and institutional culture.

A successful building integrates multiple layers of meaning. It creates new connections, anchors public space, amplifies brand values, and elevates the surrounding context. It is legible as part of a larger whole and powerful enough to shape the trajectory of that whole.

Through integrated design—master planning, architecture, and interiors working as a unified system—we help our clients craft not just facilities, but destinations. Not just spaces of treatment, but platforms for care, learning, and discovery.

Jefferson Health, Asplundh Cancer Pavilion

Conclusion: A Living Campus, Rooted in Purpose and Designed for Possibility To reimagine a medical campus is to imagine a future of deeper impact, greater clarity, and expanded potential. Our approach brings together visionary planning, architectural character, and interior empathy into a design process that is both rigorous and human centered.

By aligning every element of the built environment with the mission of the institution, we help our clients transform their campuses into places that are not only efficient and functional, but meaningful and memorable. These are environments that invite participation, foster resilience, and express care in every detail—places designed to grow, adapt, and inspire for decades to come.

Essentia Health, St. Mary’s Medical Center