Nebraska Medicine Primary Care Clinic

LEO A DALY was contracted through The Boldt Company, a Milwaukee-based real estate developer, to design the Nebraska Medicine Primary Care Clinic. As a site-adapt prototype, each facility will provide healthcare access to the community as a stand-alone clinic.

Design strategies

As the main design strategy, the clinic uses the Patient Aligned Care Team (PACT) concept of care. This layout is based on a loop of exam rooms that wrap around a central core containing an open office area that houses all of the providers, specialists, nurses and support staff. The exam room includes a door for patients to enter from the corridor, along with a separate door on the opposite side for the provider to enter, directly off the central internal work zone. This achieves a separation of patient and staff flow throughout the building, while minimizing steps for both of the major users of the facility.

A secondary design strategy involved studying exterior forms in relationship with interior volumes. A double-high space with clerestory windows provides natural daylighting in the staff area to improve the work environment. That space functions in conjunction with an architectural shell, which incorporates a modern use of traditional materials such as brick, glass curtain wall, precast concrete and metal panel. Further blurring the line between outdoor and indoor environments, the exterior precast is physically brought into the building as a subtle interior finish. Additionally, the natural wood ceiling element of the interior lobby and reception spaces flow onto an exterior wood soffit plane beyond the curtain wall glass.

Branding and design

The team also introduced several design devices to connect the strong branding of Nebraska Medicine to the interior environment. The interior concept was to create a dynamic, yet minimal, space that activates with use. Along with material restraint, careful attention to architectural detail allows the space to remain simple and unassuming. Limited use of color allows pops of Nebraska Medicine red to draw attention to intentionally exposed steel I-beams and cross bracing. Mechanical and electrical components are carefully organized and painted white along ceiling planes to avoid excess visual clutter. Linear lighting pendants are suspended at varying heights in the lobby and again in the central staff core to repeat the layered design strategy.

Compressed schedule

Mindful of developer needs for budget-conscious solutions and tight timelines, the multi-disciplinary team worked within a compressed four-month schedule from concept through the completion of contract documents. The long-standing, positive relationship between JE Dunn Construction and LEO A DALY then carried over into the construction phase, as everyone remained focused on the goal to keep the project on-budget and on-schedule. This was made possible by close coordination efforts between the JE Dunn project manager and superintendent and LEO A DALY discipline leads, as well as working through submittals, shop drawings and clarification questions quickly and efficiently.

Two clinics are complete and in use in the Omaha, Nebraska, metro area, and a third is under construction.