CallisonRTKL designed the Washington Adventist White Oak Medical Center for healing and care in Silver Spring, Maryland.

The new Washington Adventist White Oak Medical Center, situated on 48 acres along the border of Maryland’s Montgomery and Prince George’s counties, replaces the 112-year-old Washington Adventist Hospital with a $400 million, state-of-the-art, 188-bed acute care patient tower and medical campus, including a medical office building and parking garage.

The new 420,000-square-foot facility is located at the corner of Montgomery County’s emerging Life Sciences Gateway and neighbors the FDA. This convenient proximity allows Adventist Healthcare to continue its ten-year research collaboration with the FDA more closely than ever before.

The previous facility, though vital to the community for many years, had outgrown its usefulness and realized it needed more room, better technology and updated facilities to maintain its faith-based mission and relevance within the community. The new facility offers all of that, as well as an unparalleled look into biophilia—with light-filled public spaces, roof gardens, courtyards, a dining terrace and a lakeside walking trail to promote a restorative healing environment.

The design draws upon spiritual healing through a connection with nature, in accordance to the Adventist Faith. These features include nature-based planning, healing gardens, maximized windows and views of nature. In fact, the building was designed and oriented so the maximum number of patient rooms and clinical spaces look out onto natural landscape and lake with walking trail.

In addition to fostering connectivity with nature, the design is inspired by nature as well. Designers fabricated wooden benches within public areas and the boardroom table out of white oak trees taken down on site. Even the building’s wood-like façade (made from a rain screen product for longevity) reflects the area’s lush, forested setting.

With careful transition planning, the hospital came together beautifully and promises to continue Adventist HealthCare’s legacy of care in the community in a space that evolves with the hospital’s ever-changing needs.

Architect: CallisonRTKL
Contractor: Turner
Photography: Sam Kittner, David Whitcomb for CallisonRTKL