Abstract

As cancer treatment has expanded in recent years, the expectations of patients and care facilities are evolving from immediate disease maintenance to long-term chronic care. This shift introduces a need for amenities for long-term visitors who require repeat access to care and new services. Researching post-occupancy evaluations (PoE) of other cancer centres illuminates how architects, engineers and designers can incorporate the universal requirements of modern cancer centres while considering the site-specific needs of each community.

This practice-focused paper analyses three cancer care facilities, ranging from the metropolitan landscape of New York City and the suburban garden campus outside Philadelphia to the pastoral setting of Lincoln, Nebraska, highlighting how they meet the needs and demands of the communities they serve. Our goal is to highlight the next stage of cancer care and emphasise the value of PoEs when planning and building facilities to support the patients, caregivers, staff and community. We’ll review how these individual projects are situated with the ecosystem of the system operations, and how their operational model drives change in programmatic needs.

Case exemplar: NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital: The 500,000 gross sq ft state-of-the-art ambulatory facility was designed for operational efficiency, future flexibility, and sustainability. Situated in the heart of Manhattan, the facility is one piece of New York-Presbyterian’s expanded cancer system, providing local treatment and specialty care.

Case exemplar: Penn Medicine Radnor
An expansion of a larger urban system, Penn Medicine Radnor transformed a suburban office park into a community-focused, sustainable, mixed-use development rooted in nature. The multi-specialty ambulatory care centre was built to ensure ease and accessibility for all visitors, whether they visit for a surgical appointment, routine check-up, or a prescription refill.

Case exemplar: Bryan Medical Center
Located in Lincoln, Nebraska, Bryan Medical Center is under construction and will provide an in-depth look at the design influence on new freestanding cancer centres. Bryan will be the primary medical centre for the 280,000 residents of Lincoln and will provide diagnosis and treatment for a variety of specialties to respond to the needs of the surrounding population.

A matrix comparison between the programme inclusion and key rooms of these urban, suburban, and rural projects will identify the shifting programme needs of each facility and outline the optimisation of their environment across a system. The graph will compare the inclusion of PT/OT, acupuncture, and the implications of reduced infusion treatment with oral medication options to flexible environments for holistic patient care.