Creating a “Healing Village” to Embrace Advanced Therapies

The Concord Cancer Hospital and Proton Therapy Center will be the benchmarking facility for fighting cancer with the latest technology while providing the ideal environment to foster the healing process for the patient. The complex is divided in two parts — a 400-bed tower and a research structure — connected by a sinuous public concourse where users can meet and mingle. This concourse forms that heart of the “healing village.” This focus on community and comfort drove the overall design concept.

Notable features of the Cancer Hospital include:

• The design balances the technicalities of the program with an organic spirit to form a tight-knit community atmosphere, integrating both the natural environment and cutting edge technology throughout the building. This is articulated through the definition of private and public space.
• To maintain conceptual balance, areas focused on healing contain accents that reference technology, such as moving light through acrylic panels at all elevator lobbies. In places where technology is at the forefront, elements such as panels etched with botanic motifs ground the otherwise clinical space.
• Material, textures, color and scale create a welcoming approach for patients with cancer and their families.
• A streamlined inpatient bed tower raised above the podium captures southern exposures and distant views to contribute to the “healing village” environment.
• A centrally located garden will connect patients to nature, especially important for those who may otherwise feel isolated and disconnected from the outside world during treatment.
• Solar orientation, energy efficiency and high-performance façades are woven throughout the design — from its linear form along the east-west axis to the natural ventilation to capture western breezes.

The Phase 2 research and administration tower located on the southwest corner of the site provides future flexibility for the hospital’s needs.