SmithGroup-designed Holy Cross Germantown Hospital Opens its Doors

The new Holy Cross Germantown Hospital is now open on the Montgomery College campus in Germantown, Maryland. SmithGroup, one of the country’s leading architecture, engineering and planning firms, designed the 237,000-square-foot, 93-bed hospital.

Offering medical, surgical, obstetric and emergency services and psychiatric care, the new, $200 million Holy Cross Germantown Hospital is the first new hospital built in the state of Maryland in over 35 years. Additionally, as the foundation of Montgomery College’s Hercules Pinkney Life Sciences Park, the hospital is the first in the U.S. to be built on a community college campus, representing a partnership between the institutions to help train the next generation of nurses and healthcare workers.

The facility features a full-service emergency department with an adjacent observation unit; patient units for cancer care, dialysis and inpatient rehabilitation; a 15-bed ICU, two 30-bed inpatient units and a behavioral health unit. Surgical services across a broad range of specialties include full-service operating rooms as well as procedure rooms for endoscopy and interventional radiology. Comprehensive maternity services are provided through labor and delivery rooms, cesarean surgical suites, private postpartum rooms and an eight-bed neonatal care unit.

A healing, patient-centered design

The design of the new Holy Cross Germantown hospital is a direct response to the evolving challenges of healthcare delivery. All of the hospital’s private patient rooms and staff zones were designed for operational efficiency as well as for the comfort and independence of patients and their families. Large windows provide ample daylight in patient rooms, staff and public and decentralized nursing alcoves and visitor seating bays are located along the public concourses, simplifying wayfinding.

Applying evidence-based design methods, the SmithGroup designers’ objective was to create a healing, patient-centered environment. Features include a healing garden; views of green, landscaped roofs; and soothing interior finishes.

“Our ability to meet our mission has been greatly enhanced by innovative design and attention to the details of providing care to those in need,” said Holy Cross Health President and CEO Kevin J. Sexton.

“Not only is the new hospital beautiful, but it features the latest platforms and innovations in healthcare delivery and architecture, including advanced medical technologies and interventional platforms for patient-focused care,” said William Kline, AIA, LEED AP, EDAC, who served as the principal-in-charge on the project.

Completed in September 2014, the Holy Cross Germantown Hospital was constructed by Whiting-Turner Contracting Company. SmithGroup provided architecture and interior design services. Syska Hennessy Group served as prime MEP engineer alongside sub consultant partner, Leach Wallace Associates, Inc. A LEED Silver rating is targeted.

Holy Cross Health (www.holycrosshealth.org) founded in 1963 by the Sisters of the Holy Cross, is a Catholic health care system that includes Holy Cross Hospital, the largest hospital in Montgomery and Prince George’s Counties, a new hospital, Holy Cross Germantown Hospital, and Holy Cross Health Network, which provides 30,000 primary health care visits annually and serves as the locus for physician and insurance relationships.

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