Ballinger has completed the design for Penn Medicine Lancaster General Health’s Ann B. Barshinger Cancer Institute located in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

In response to a growing health system’s need for expanded oncology services, the Ann B. Barshinger Cancer Institute transformed and consolidated all services into a center for healing.

Focused on regeneration and reconnection to living systems, the two-story expansion extends on a radial grid from a central courtyard healing garden. Glazed skins and multiple points of access provide a continuous dialogue between interior and exterior, creating a visually open environment that reduces anxiety and stress for patients who deal with serious and chronic illness.

The program for the 100,000 SF space includes exam and procedure rooms, physician offices, staff workspace, consultation areas, a cancer resource library, state-of-the-art conference areas, an imaging center, an infusion center, a healing garden, a meditation room and a children’s play area.

The building design reflects a new model for cancer care and focuses on two primary concepts: 1) an interdisciplinary and patient-centric approach and 2) connection and relationship to natural systems as catalysts in the healing process. The exterior materials of glass, steel and brick represent transparency, simplicity and strength while the interior materials of wood, terrazzo, terra cotta and colored-glass evoke biophilic responses and aid wayfinding. The interior design is informed by research on healing. The exam rooms are the quietest places in the building and the treatment spaces provide privacy as well as vast views of the fields and landscape that surround the building.

Architect: Ballinger
Photography: Peter Aaron, Larry Lefever