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Frisco, Texas, USA

Architects: HKS Architects
Clients: Texas Health Resources and UT Southwestern Medical Center
Photographers: Tom Harris, Daryl Shields, and Bryan Wallace

Hospitals have traditionally played a reactive role in the healthcare system as facilities for transactional “sick care.” What if they became proactive community members, facilitating health through programs of “well care”?

With the goal to evolve the current health model from transactional to transformational care, the Texas Health Frisco (THF) project team proposed this not as a health facility but as a Health Facilitator, to provide better outcomes by facilitating sustainable relationships between caregivers, patients, families, visitors, and health services.

This project is phase one of a multigenerational experiment — testing the goals of the campus design (buildings and landscape) to measure against predictive outcomes in energy, carbon, safety, satisfaction, psychological comfort, reduced stress, expedited healing, and systemic resiliency.

This campus affords users a healing connection to the natural environment through open, accessible, and inclusive public environments with verdant regional landscaping, establishing a unique sense of place and memorable architectural experience as part of the continuum of care.

The THF project collaboration between Texas Health and UT Southwestern Medical Center, created a 20-acre medical campus to serve the growing Frisco, Texas community. The program includes a 330,417 sf (73 beds expandible to 300) acute care hospital and 120,000 sf of multi-specialty clinic complex, (shared 4-level, 215,000 sf garage) offering comprehensive health care services, enhancing the patient experience, and improving staff performance.

The unique health campus was specifically designed with holistic Biophilic principles and strategies to, “not look like a traditional hospital” through extensive use of Texas flora, rugged geologic massing forms, natural materials like stone, wood, and concrete with variegated patterns, indoor-outdoor connections, and art programs.

This biophilia concept develops personal connection, physically, mentally, and aesthetically, between built form and natural environment for an integrated, holistic healthcare experience.

This continues within the interior spaces, inviting exploration, discovery, and wonder within a metaphorical cavern replete with color palettes drawn from, sand, mud, minerals, geodes, precious metals, and sheltered areas for prospect and view.

Even the central lobby skylight aligns with exterior lift lobby glass to evoke a crashing waterfall. Health care providers are focused on caring for people, not only when they are sick but also keeping healthy people out of hospitals; this campus design represents a bold step towards achieving these goals.

With a focus on integrated performance, the commissioned project achieved an operational EUI of 130 (41% improvement over baseline) with the opportunity to improve through additional fine-tuning — including the potential for onsite renewable programs in future operational improvement capital budgets.

POEs include post-Covid staff performance and patient satisfaction studies, and current Energy & Carbon LCA benchmarking — noting this development will become a certified Energy Star project with a current rating of 82 — a green performer with progressive design.