Forest Park Medical Center of Austin was designed to deliver state-of-the-art, quality healthcare through a five-star hospitality experience that is integrated into the landscape of the Texas Hill Country. The medical campus is on 9.471 acres within an overall 59-acre site that is anticipated to become an urban mixed-use community. Forest Park, which has been designed to achieve LEED Gold certification, includes a four-story medical office building, four-story hospital, and parking garage with a sculpture garden connecting the three buildings. Arrival onto the property is an orchestrated sequence of access and wayfinding, culminating in a grand yet hospitable sense of welcome.
The design of the Forest Park Medical Center embodies the regional culture of high-gloss technology while the vernacular aesthetic creates a character of elevated and eclectic sophistication. Through elements of warmth and light, contrast and balance in an elegant design palette, visitors are drawn inside to a holistic experience of quality care. Patient and family-centric care units accommodate a total of 46 patient rooms, 12 of which were designated for VIP suites and six for intensive care. They are oriented with views out to the serene Hill Country landscape and ‘Violet Crown’ sunsets in support of the environments designed to be conducive for the recovery process.
Diagnostic treatment services in Phase One of the Austin campus include 10 operating rooms, two procedure rooms, an imaging center, ancillary support services and future expansion space for inpatient care and surgical services. Within the medical center, the interiors truly reflect the facility’s premiere hospitality atmosphere. Strong architectural and landscape elements occurring on the campus carry through to the interior; the result is a sophisticated, seamless “inside-out” experience. The lobby is airy and light-filled. Dramatic architectural elements consisting of a sculptural “suspended” staircase and full-height water wall that punches through the floor provide an elegant counterpoint to the natural character of the palette. Further enhancing the Texas Hill Country experience, all of the materials used in the interior - stone, wood, metal, glass, textiles - have a local, handcrafted, artisanal character.
Patients and visitors enter a main hospital entry plaza with views down a central lawn to a focal point sculpture framed by a double row of Palo Verde trees. Raised metal planters and limestone paving bands extend out from the hospital lobby creating a series of outdoor ornamental spaces. A crushed granite plaza with focal sculpture, large planter pots, and benches terminates at the Sculpture Garden against an accent backdrop of bamboo. Perimeter walkways link the park to a courtyard with outdoor seating and overhead shade trellis adjacent to the hospital dining.
The Sculpture Garden is an extension of the interior architecture into the landscape by creating a series of outdoor “rooms” with shade and plantings varying in texture and seasonal color to aid in patient recovery. Texas limestone, steel planters with native, drought tolerant plant species, and flowering Palo Verde trees provide a green backdrop visible from the hospital lobby, and tie the park back to the building architecture. Comfortable, pedestrian-scaled, outdoor spaces for use by patients, visitors and employees provide access between the hospital, medical office building and garage.
Page also provided interior design services for the medical center.
Construction broke ground in mid-2013 and the project was completed in early 2015. Page provided comprehensive architecture, interior design and structural engineering services. Our partners included Neal Richards Group (NRG) and Forest Park Medical Center (FPMC). Adolfson & Peterson Construction was the construction manager responsible for construction delivery. Landscape architect Bury collaborated on the design of the grounds. After completion, the hospital was purchased by a healthcare system and renamed.
