Taylor Design has completed the design of John Muir Health’s 1479 Ygnacio Valley Road Clinics which united two specialized services under one roof located in Walnut Creek, California.

The 1479 Ygnacio Valley Road projects started as a remodel of 6,000 GSF of vacant ‘shelled’ space on the second floor into a simple B-occupancy, non-OSHPD outpatient clinic for John Muir Health. The intent of the project was to bridge together John Muir’s gastroenterology and colorectal services by co-locating them in a new combined clinic space known simply as Digestive Health services.

The building had recently undergone an exterior and interior public lobby remodel by the developer/owner and so the scope was limited to the 2nd floor suite and did not include any public areas aside from a new reception desk and carpeting at the first floor level. Within the second floor suite, the project included a small check-in/reception station, waiting area, consult room, six gastrointestinal exam rooms, two colorectal exam rooms, one colorectal procedure room, soiled & clean scope processing rooms, offices, breakroom, and call center.

Several months into the design of the second floor, the project team was informed that our client had decided to purchase the building from the developer in lieu of a long-term lease. By purchasing the property outright, John Muir was then able to re-program the entire building and as a result requested Taylor Design remodel all 7,000 GSF of first floor space simultaneously with the existing second floor project. The first floor program was to accommodate two similar yet distinct specialty clinics, Gynecological Cancer Services and Preoperative (Pre-Op) Services, which each occupied roughly one half of the floor plate. In order to fully accommodate the needs of these specialty clinics in the limited space available, common support services (such as a break/conference room, call center, offices, lab, meds, clean/soiled utility, and other support functions) were shared between the practices. This allowed the design team to maximize the amount of patient care spaces and ultimately were able to provide a total of 11 exam rooms, two procedure rooms, two MA stations, and a shared consult room.

By keeping the two floors as separate construction/permit packages, the design team was able to leverage down time during the required city/county permit process for the second floor scope to complete the documentation for the first floor. This ultimately allowed for both packages to be bid together and for the construction work to commence simultaneously.

The completed projects, which are collectively referred to as the 1479 Ygnacio Valley Road Clinics, have also become John Muir’s new ‘reference project’ for how their interior design standards for specialty clinics should be incorporated. The project has been so well received that the client asked for finish material boards after project completion to use for reference on future project.

Architect & Designer: Taylor Design
Contractor: WCI-GC
Photography: John Sutton Photography