HGA designed MetroHealth’s The Glick Center as a a state-of-the-art facility for healthcare in Cleveland, Ohio.

MetroHealth’s main campus has served the Clark-Fulton neighborhood in Cleveland for more than 150 years. HGA reimagined the campus plan and designed the Glick Center, an 11-story, state-of-the-art acute care tower. The transformational campus plan emphasizes diversity, population health and research-based care.

The new building’s design drew inspiration from historical photos of the original hospital, once set in a park. The white terracotta exterior façade recalls the traditional material used on the original hospital at the beginning of the twentieth century, reimagined through contemporary building methods. The wave-like profile of the terracotta panels echoes the nearby Lake Erie and Cuyahoga River, expressing a turbulent and textural response at the public interface, and slowly quieting as the building reaches toward the sky.

The West 25th St corridor and adjacent neighborhoods have an abundance of colorful public murals that express Cleveland’s active culture. The hospital infuses these colors in dichroic partition glass and furniture within its public spaces to connect to its cultural context. On the main stairs, a bright and colorful mural depicts Ohio’s Cayuga Valley and connects to the park setting beyond.

The design uses an abstract form of the interplay of light and shadow found in tree canopies through the texture of the building cladding, numerous skylights, and textured wall tile. The building responds to the current lack of green space in the neighborhood by becoming both a ‘Hospital in a Park’ and ‘Hospital as a Park’ supporting informal park-like activities, including a dedicated performance space in the public lobby that converts to an amphitheater for fine arts programs and performances.

A meditation area features local art with calming colors and leaf and branch forms, to evoke serenity. The nature and park concepts extend to MetroHealth’s youngest patients. The pediatric unit features the Tree House play space designed to feel like a jungle or forest canopy, and includes outdoor space to provide children with a sense of freedom and control in a situation that can feel daunting. The Family Center welcomes families and visitors, offers a variety of privacy levels, concierge level information services, and a family-like kitchen for prepping meals.

Continuous changes in patient care and the need for streamlined workflows needed a forward-thinking, evidence-based, lean, and data-driven approach. A ‘Process Neutral’ Design philosophy elevates the hospital’s best practices to deliver technologically advanced, compassionate care. 288 universal rooms provide flexibility as changes in acuity and operations occur over the building’s life. The open floor plate avoids fixed monuments and overly customized spaces, allowing unique configurations of core workspaces for department needs and promote visibility and ease of access.

Sustainability and resiliency planning informed the design. The campus plan creates community connections and addresses the impact of sound, exhaust smells, and lighting design to improve safety and eliminate light pollution emanating from the building into the park. Inside, advanced air filtration, daylighting, and lighting controls support health and wellness, with significant energy savings, reduced emissions, and improved water management. The new hospital will be LEED certified and seek Well Building certification.

Design: HGA
Associate Architect: Bostwick Design
Contractor: Turner Construction
Photography: Nic Lehoux