Penn Medicine – Princeton Medical Center

Evidence-based design strategies helped transform care at this 319-bed replacement hospital. The team began by surveying medical staff and patients and creating a mock private patient room in the old hospital. In this room the team spent several months testing different options and refining the design to optimize the well-being of patients.

All the patient rooms are private and were specially designed to enhance comfort, reduce falls and minimize the risk of infection. Other room amenities include Wi-Fi access, abundant space for guests, views to the outdoors and dedicated temperature control systems.

After the hospital opened, surveys revealed that patients in the redesigned rooms reported much higher levels of satisfaction and were requesting significantly less pain medication. This supported the ideas that design can make important contributions to the healing process.

To make the new hospital as convenient as possible for patients, the design creates centers of care to keep related services near each other.

Sustainable design strategies were projected to reduce the hospital’s energy use by 25 percent compared to a conventional design. Ventilation systems deliver 100 percent fresh air in critical patient care areas.

A joint venture of HOK and RMJM Hiller designed the Center.