Project Description
FROM THE ARCHITECTS:
The Lamprich Center is a 16,000 square foot, ground up medical office building, designed and constructed on a 12 month fast track schedule. The project’s rural site, adjacent to the new Frank R. Howard Memorial Hospital required the building layout to accommodate the interior clinical program as well as connect to the Hospital and the surrounding Medical Campus. The building houses a Rural Health Clinic, Rehabilitation Clinic, Retail Pharmacy and administrative offices for the Frank R. Howard Foundation.
The building form was simplified to address both its context and the organization of the plan. Emphasis was placed on long, horizontal lines, designed to accentuate the rolling topography of the site. Component repetition, characteristic of modular construction, was embraced as an opportunity to reinforce programmatic elements and activate the building’s facades: rhythmic vertical bands complement the horizontality of the building form. Fenestration within these bands reinforces the relationship between interior and exterior. Adaptations to design precepts of modularity and repetition were carefully curated to minimize expense, accelerate the building process, and create a spatial and visual language for the project. Cedar-clad openings signal principal entrances and encourage intimacy at the pedestrian level while strategic moments of raised ceilings and skylights illuminate the interior.
The project’s simple design supported the move to a prefabricated, modular construction delivery method. Thus, the building layout and dimensions were designed to optimize modular core sizes. Generative concepts derived from this methodology resulted in a systematic approach to execution from wall components to roof trusses and cladding strategies. Due to the technical complexity of the project, the team elected to site-build the structure, but the value of the design approach was evident in the efficiency of construction. Despite the accelerated schedule, the project was completed on time and on budget due to the close coordination of the design-build team.