Skidmore, Owings & Merrill and May Architecture collaborated on a sophisticated and impressive space for the Winship Cancer Institute at Emory Midtown in Atlanta, Georgia.

Winship Cancer Institute at Emory Midtown is a 17-story facility that brings 450,000 square feet of inpatient, outpatient, and research facilities to the existing Emory University Hospital Midtown campus and Winship Cancer Institute––the only National Cancer Institute (NCI)-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center in Georgia. The building houses comprehensive oncology facilities, including inpatient beds, surgical capacity, infusion treatment, outpatient clinics, diagnostic imaging, linear accelerators, and areas for wellness, rehabilitation, and clinical research. Through a highly inclusive effort with 200 collaborators, including patients, clinicians, and hospital staff, the project challenges established practices of hospital design with a facility centered around patients.

The team created a new concept: a facility arranged not around equipment and departments, but instead broken down into two-story “care communities,” each focused on a specific type of cancer. Within these, services normally distributed throughout a hospital are organized into one-stop destinations that combine exam, consultation, infusion, and supportive functions––resulting in a series of intimate communities that are tailored to the journey of each patient. The “care communities” unite patients and families together and minimize, or even eliminate, the need for patients to wait.

The care communities informed the design of the exterior, which is expressed in two-story facade increments that give the tower an approachable scale on Atlanta’s Peachtree Street. The building meets the street with a transparent base and welcomes patients and visitors with a hotel-like drop-off leading into the lobby. Throughout interiors, the design balances comfort and familiarity with innovation and cutting-edge technology through material selection.

Through a holistic approach to energy-efficient design, the building will expend almost 40 percent less energy annually than the average hospital in Atlanta. The project is on track for a predicted Energy Use Intensity (pEUI) of 136 kBtu/sq/year, a 32% improvement from typical hospitals in the country.

Architect: Skidmore, Owings & Merrill
SOM Design Team: Mustafa Abadan, Laura Ettelman, Anthony Treu, Scott Habjan, Andy Rah, Dona Orozova, Max Wolf, Julio Guzman, Nick Kahler, Ruben Cabanillas, Erioseto Hendranata, Lawrence Wisbeski, Charles Besjak, Georgi Petrov, Raymond Sweeney
Clinical Architect: May Architecture
May Design Team: Gil May, Emily Marvel Stallings, Shelly Attila, Jay Jenkins, Dawn Mixon Bennett, Susan Milton, Todd Combs, Sarah Wagner, Melissa Blair
Construction Manager: Batson-Cook Construction
Photography: Dave Burk © SOM, Dave Kresses © May Architecture