by Brianna Crandall — March 6, 2015—Global design, architecture, engineering and planning firm HOK was selected to design the new Prebys Cardiovascular Institute (HOK project description) in La Jolla, California, on the campus of Scripps Memorial Hospital La Jolla. The 383,000-square-foot tower is conceived to be the region’s largest and most advanced center dedicated to cardiovascular care, designed to enable best practices while introducing significant innovations in patient-centered care.
The “successful result of an extraordinary team effort,” according to HOK, the Prebys Cardiovascular Institute (Scripps description) builds on a legacy of Scripps advancements in pioneering surgical procedures, landmark studies, genomic medicine and wireless technology to provide the most innovative treatment options to patients with cardiovascular disease.
Incorporating “the highest construction standards and most advanced design principles,” according to Scripps, HOK’s design team created a physical environment that embodies the mission and vision of Scripps with features that support the delivery of care, patient safety, staff efficiency, productivity and functional flexibility.
The exterior composition of brick, glass and metal panels respects the aesthetic of the surrounding campus buildings. Stacked brick and punched windows lining the north and west façades relate to the La Jolla campus and reinterpret its architectural character with a view to the future. The curved glass curtain wall on the southeast delivers a message of transparency to the community. Generous daylight on patient floors streams through the floor-to-ceiling windows.
The seven-story, 167-bed hospital includes 59 intensive care beds, four operating rooms, two hybrid operating rooms, three cardiac catheterization labs and an electrophysiology lab connected to centralized research labs, and a center for graduate education. Interior spaces support advanced medical treatment, patient care, research, clinical trials and graduate medical education within an environment supportive of patient and family-centered care.
The grand opening of the Prebys Cardiovascular Institute on February 26 represents the first phase of a master plan that is transforming the Scripps Memorial Hospital La Jolla campus. The team included McCarthy Building Companies, Inc., as general contractor and Jacobs Project Management Co. as construction manager. Scripps will begin moving patients into the tower on March 8.
