River People Health Center

Project highlights: River People Health Center

• Architecture firm:  SmithGroup
• Owner:  Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community
• Location: Scottsdale, Az.
• Category: B
• Project Site: Previously developed
• Building program type(s): Healthcare - outpatient - general

• Located in Scottsdale, Arizona, this new facility represents a massive shift in the health of the Salt River-Pima Maricopa Indian Community, members of which face a life expectancy of just 52. Providing easy access to holistic care in a setting that is both welcoming and respectful of the community’s culture and history, the project responds to the community’s “5 in 5” goal of increasing the average lifespan by five years within five years of the center’s opening.

  Funded by the U.S. Indian Health Service, the project, on track for LEED Silver certification, replaced a poorly maintained golf course with little biodiversity. While it serves all Indigenous people in the region, the facility’s identity celebrates the Salt River-Pima Maricopa people. Its design was informed by the nearby mountains and a story told to the team of a healer who traveled from peak to peak to learn his craft.

  The center, which began accepting patients in March 2022, consolidates services and eliminates the need for Indigenous people to seek treatment from facilities scattered across the greater Phoenix area. It has expanded existing services while also introducing new ones, such as physical therapy and imaging. 

The region’s sacred peaks, specifically Red Mountain, inform the orientation of the program spaces and departments within. A strong relationship with and visual connection to Red Mountain was one of the community’s primary design goals. As such, the main entry and building form are aligned with the mountain to connect community members with the sacred landform as they enter and exit the center. Additional serendipitous moments of connection occur along the main circulation stairs and through openings in the concrete monoliths.  

The community understood the importance of the Salt River and the conservation of water in a desert environment, constructing the first irrigation canals in the region. The team’s design pays homage to that history with a community plaza on the center’s north side where multiple colors and textures in the concrete relay how the river has changed over time. Water from the rooftops flows over symbol-embossed concrete walls and is collected in swales that evoke the community’s ancient canals and nurture a new landscape of native plants.

Daily patient visits for all of the center’s departments continue to grow, with nearly 300 new patients seeking care each month. In addition, the center has provided numerous job opportunities for the community. More than 225 positions have been filled by community and tribal members, a number that will more than double as the center reaches its full operational capacity.