RTA Architects completed Pueblo Community Health Center’s East Side Clinic with natural light and muted colors in Pueblo, Colorado.

After RTA Architects completed a master plan for Pueblo Community Health Center (PCHC), they were then retained to design a new full-service clinic in Pueblo, Colorado. This new clinic provides much needed health care services, conveniently located in one building, to serve the large amount of PCHC patients on the city’s east side.

RTA worked closely with PCHC leadership, staff, stakeholders, and Pueblo’s east side community in a highly collaborative visioning and design process. Throughout the course of numerous user group and community meetings, the team identified the pursuit of Zero Energy as a primary goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, significantly reduce energy use and operating costs, increase staff recruitment and retention, enhance fundraising efforts, serve as a catalyst for change in Pueblo, and to set a new standard in outpatient clinic design. The pursuit of Zero Energy was chosen over LEED, Well Building Standards, and other sustainable building certifications due to its ease of measurement and focus on whole-building performance and carbon footprint reduction. The new East Side clinic is the first Emerging Zero Energy outpatient clinic in the state of Colorado according to the New Buildings Institute.

The new three-story health clinic features extensive natural light, a brick exterior reminiscent of Pueblo’s historic buildings, and biophilic design elements. It has 78 exam rooms offering a full range of medical services including Primary Care, full on-site testing and four blood draw rooms, Pharmacy, Dental with six treatment rooms, and Behavioral Health; open and collaborative clinical pod layout; administrative spaces; and shell space for future expansion. A bright open layout and a three-story atrium paired with exceptional energy-efficient design gives Pueblo’s East side a truly state-of-the-art new clinic.

Design: RTA Architects
Photography: David Lauer Photography