Allegheny Health Network Wexford Hospital

Project highlights: Allegheny Health Network Wexford Hospital

• Architecture firm: HKS
• Owner: Dr, Allan Klapper, President AHN Wexford
• Location: Wexford, Penn.
• Category: B
• Project site: Previously developed
• Building program type(s):  Healthcare - hospital inpatient 

Aiming to bring healthcare closer to home, Alleghany Health Network’s Wexford Hospital, located in a suburb of Pittsburgh, is a new medical campus that expands the continuum of care by supporting healthy lifestyles and offering a full spectrum of patient services. Designed with the patient at the forefront, the 160-bed hospital offers a value-based approach to design that focuses on patient experiences, efficient operations, and financial and environmental sustainability.

The team organized the hospital around a choreographed sequence of connected public spaces and circulation that all reinforce connections to nature. Those connections also inform the hospital’s wayfinding, beginning at the main entry that sits below a dramatic wood-clad cantilever that relies on a first-of-its-kind structural system. The lobby, with its natural materials and warm tones, is bathed in natural light, and views to the exterior foster a home-like feeling. Further inside, a feature stair connects to the second level that includes a surgery waiting area and meditation room. Visitors also have access to a cafe and community center that are attached to a garden courtyard.

Throughout, the hospital offers large patient rooms with views and ample daylight, services for patients, and a hotel-like concierge experience. The rooms incorporate the latest innovations in healthcare technology: bedside access to electronic health records, telemedicine and remote monitoring, and an interactive video board that captures a patient’s daily care schedule and updates from the care team. 

For this integrated design project, the client envisioned a collaborative process between owner, architect, and construction team, all working toward common schedule, cost, and quality goals. Three specialty contractors combined their building information modeling to perform what is believed to be the first integrated multi-trade prefabrication in western Pennsylvania. The contractors produced fully constructed corridor racks and installed them intact at the site. The racks included all of the above-ceiling mechanical and electrical distribution and equipment, fully fireproofed and finished with drywall. The collaboration among trades was a direct response to the construction manager’s desire to use as much prefabrication as possible for the project.

Community engagement within the township was a critical component of the process, and it yielded specific elements, including a clearly identifiable front door, the location of the hospital’s meeting space, and careful placement of the helicopter pad, which was acoustically analyzed to minimize the impact on the surrounding community.

Since opening in June 2021, the hospital has exceeded expectations. While it was initially programmed for 100 beds, the health system expanded the scope during construction, and all units have been operating at capacity. Its emergency room has already been recognized for its excellence, and the entire project was recognized as the 2022 ENR Mid-Atlantic Healthcare Project of the Year and received a 2021 Master Builder Award from the Master Builders’ Association of Western Pennsylvania.