Ballinger designed a streamlined layout for better function at the Reading HealthPlex for Advanced Surgical + Patient Care in West Reading, Pennsylvania.

Reading HealthPlex is a state-of-the-art facility for comprehensive surgical and patient care, designed to enrich the patient experience. The essential design idea was to employ a 30-foot grade change on the building site to situate a significant portion of the surgical program below grade. This satisfied the clinical need to collocate surgical services on a single level, enabling more efficient patient and staff flows. Atop the procedural platform is an 88,000 SF roof garden and a five-story bed tower with 150 new private patient beds.

The HealthPlex consolidates campus-wide surgical services including pre-admission testing, a surgical center with 24 operating rooms including four hybrid rooms and two daVinci System robotic surgery rooms, and an eight-room procedural suite. Sixteen new emergency department treatment rooms with a third CT scanner aid in patient care for what is among the busiest EDs in the nation. Five new trauma bays located adjacent to the emergency department and operating rooms provide critical care with minimal transport.

Each patient room contains adequate space for family members to participate in the care-giving process. All patient beds are equipped with sophisticated smart room technologies and windows that look toward green space, either to the green roof below, toward neighboring Wyomissing Park, or out to the landscape beyond the site.

Beyond proving expansive beauty and space for respite, the roof garden serves as a central wayfinding element, allowing everyone on campus to orient themselves and sense the grounds. The roof garden reaches out to adjacent public gardens and a nearby art museum, physically integrating the complex with the assets of the community.

Architect: Ballinger
Contractor: L.F. Driscoll
Photography: Albert Vecerka, Halkin Mason Photography, Rob Cordillo