New SOM-designed Facility for Winship Cancer Institute Breaks Ground at Emory University Hospital Midtown

Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP (SOM) joined Emory University Hospital Midtown (EUHM) and Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University to break ground on the new Winship at Midtown facility for cancer care. Designed by SOM along with local architecture partner May Architecture, the new building will bring more than 450,000 square feet of inpatient, outpatient, and research facilities to the existing EUHM campus and Winship Cancer Institute – which is the only National Cancer Institute (NCI)-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center in the state of Georgia. Upon its completion in 2023, Winship at Midtown will enhance access to cancer services in the city of Atlanta, the state of Georgia, and beyond.

“The new Winship at Midtown facility will provide state-of-the-art, innovative cancer care in a magnificent building designed to treat patients in a unique patient-centered setting,” says Daniel Owens, CEO of Emory University Hospital Midtown. “We know our patients, family members, faculty, and staff will benefit greatly from this new building that will change the skyline of Atlanta.”

SOM is providing architectural and structural engineering services for the new facility, which is set at a prime location on the EUHM campus at the intersection of Linden Avenue and Peachtree Street. The building will house comprehensive oncology facilities including inpatient beds, surgical capacity, infusion treatment, outpatient clinics, diagnostic imaging, linear accelerators, and areas for wellness, rehabilitation, and clinical research. The project will also enable Winship Cancer Institute to build and sustain its distinctive cancer programs through recruitment, retention, engagement, and development of faculty, staff, and trainees.

“We are so honored to have been selected to design this new addition for one of America’s leading cancer treatment and research programs,” said Mustafa Abadan, FAIA, Design Partner in SOM’s New York office. “This project is a fantastic opportunity to work with Winship Cancer Institute on building a next-generation facility for finding cures and improving lives.”

Central to the building’s design are its two-story, disease-centered “care communities.” Within these, services normally distributed throughout a hospital are organized into one-stop destinations that combine exam, consultation, infusion, and supportive functions – resulting in a series of intimate communities that are tailored to the journey of each patient.

“The potential impact of this project is enormous,” said SOM Firmwide Healthcare Leader Anthony Treu, AIA, ACHA. “Together with Emory, we are reinventing healthcare and creating a breakthrough project that defines the future of cancer care hospitals and research centers.”

The duplex care communities informed SOM’s design of the exterior, which is expressed in two-story facade increments that give the tower an approachable scale on Atlanta’s iconic Peachtree Street. At the two-story patient and staff lounges that bracket the ends of each care community, elegant wooden ceilings and walls introduce a warmth that contrasts with the facility’s taut, high-performance glass facades. Reflecting Emory’s commitment to a new level of community engagement, the building will meet Peachtree Street with a transparent storefront, a welcoming lobby, and retail – seamlessly integrating the health facility with the public realm, and reconsidering how an urban medical center relates to its neighborhood.

The new facility will feature a high-performance facade with optimized glazing and window-wall ratios, as well as efficient mechanical systems such as energy-efficient recovery mechanical equipment with chilled beams and direct-outside air units. Water efficiency and storm water management were also prioritized in the building’s design. Within the building, patients’ recovery is supported by daylight, views, and thermal comfort – elements that will grant Winship at Midtown a high Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ). Together, these sustainable design features put the building on track for LEED® Silver certification, as well as an ambitious 130 Energy Use Intensity (EUI) – a goal that very few hospitals have achieved. As a result, the building will expend almost 40% less energy annually than the average hospital in Atlanta.

SOM embarked on a highly collaborative design process involving over 150 healthcare executives, clinicians, patient family advisors, builders, and expert consultants. Supporting SOM on the project are engineering consultants from Atlanta-based Kimley-Horn and Newcomb & Boyd, medical planning and programming specialists from MPR International, and consultants on vertical transportation, food service design, and medical equipment planning from Lerch Bates, Rippe Associates, and Mitchell Planning.

About Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP

Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) is an influential collective of architects, designers, engineers and planners, responsible for some of the world’s most technically and environmentally advanced buildings, and significant public spaces. From a strategic regional plan to a single piece of furniture, SOM’s designs anticipate change in the way we live, work and communicate, and have brought lasting value to communities around the world. The firm’s approach is highly collaborative, and its interdisciplinary team is engaged on a wide range of international projects, with creative studios based across the globe.