Legacy ER - Allen

Allen, TX, United States

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Legacy ER - Allen

Allen, TX, United States

Firm

5G Studio Collaborative

Type

Government + Health › Hospital Medical Facility

STATUS

Built

YEAR

2013

SIZE

5000 sqft - 10,000 sqft

Photos

Michael Moran Photography (1)

Legacy ER in Allen, Texas aims to advance community access to high-quality healthcare services. Running a hybrid program comprising of urgent care and 24/7 emergency room functions, the 8,432-square-foot building containing urgent care exam and treatment rooms, along with administrative offices and clinical staff areas. The physician-owners asked the designers to craft the architecture to be a potent reflection of the organization’s identity and to elevate the quality of healthcare delivery within the community. By focusing the architecture on the patient and the staff, the quality of healthcare delivery is elevated and provides respite from the emotional distress relating to emergency medical situations.  

The design of Legacy ER seeks to capture the dual role of its emergency medical professionals and the brand they represent, projecting outwardly the knowledge, skill, precision, and decisiveness necessary for the practice of emergency medicine, and reflecting inwardly the gentle, empathic, and humanistic qualities of the persons beneath the robe. It is realized simply through an architectural montage of sharply folded exterior robe of zinc panels and softly sculpted interior plastered planes.

The building's crisp edge profile was defined through an observation of the typical residential roof planes and was given a new tectonic vocabulary which enabled its programmatically driven transformation around the building. Zinc, the most sustainably sourced metal for construction, was selected for its inherent greyish-blue warmth and resiliency during extreme Texas weather events. Using the ordinary interlocking method of a standing seam roof, the zinc panels were diagrammed in accordance with the planar parameters of the folded planes to achieve the eventual patterning while optimizing solar shading. Gradient perforated panels were likewise mapped onto the exterior surfaces to allow for the diffusive building lighting effects. 

In contrast to the precise geometry of the exterior, the interior spaces are designed to blur edges and to receive natural and artificial light softly. Views, volume, and light are elements that get repeated throughout the building. The atmospheric quality combination and interplay of these three elements continually morph the interior in response to the natural climatic conditions and poetically links the users to nature. At strategic intersections of the circulatory loop, skylights form a sensible system of wayfinding. The detailing of the interior skylights read as frameless apertures that puncture and stitch with the exterior membrane.  The mirror aggregates in the polished concrete floor mix and the frosted glass panes reflect light and outdoor natural colors and create a pleasantly calming experience during the check-in process. 

On a previously open pasture surrounded by commercially driven suburban residential subdivisions, chain stores, and strip centers, Legacy ER-Allen challenges the chronically lethargic context which lack identity of place through an architectural intervention that seeks to positively influence the environment beyond its lot line. The landscape design strategies aim to reconcile nature and constructed settings prevalent to the locality.

Sustainable site strategies for Legacy ER included providing almost three times the area of vegetated open space that was required by the City of Allen, a landscape design which includes only native and adapted vegetation, and a high efficiency irrigation system that will limit outdoor water use. The team chose to use low water use, drought-tolerant vegetation species such as Cedar Elm trees, Pink Muhly Grass, Weeping Lovegrass, and Buffalograss.  In a region where turf grass lawns consume large quantities of potable water, the limited use of turf grass (and the use of buffalo grass where turf grass is installed) provides an example of attractive and environmentally responsible landscaping for future developments. Potable water is further conserved through low-flow plumbing fixtures and low-flow faucet aerators throughout the building. 

The building envelope was designed to take advantage of passive solar design strategies so that it would be more energy efficient. The south-facing entry is surrounded by expansive glazing that allows daylight to penetrate deep into the building while limiting direct solar heat gain due to the extensive cantilevered roof overhangs and low solar heat gain coefficient of the glazing. The east facade, which only receives direct sunlight during the morning when outdoor temperatures are lower, also has expansive glazing with a generous 5-foot overhang. Due to its exposure to the harsh afternoon sun, the west facade has very limited glazing, and a perforated metal overhang shields the exam room glazing from direct solar heat gain and glare while still allowing in daylight and views to the outdoors. The north side of the building, which benefits from indirect light, includes an expansive skylight that blankets the interior core of the building with daylight without the disadvantage of direct solar heat gain. Other energy efficiency strategies implemented on the project include the use of high albedo roofing and the installation of energy-efficient fluorescent and LED light fixtures for interior and exterior lighting. 

The building was designed and constructed to meet and exceed the high standards of the Texas Department of State Health Services’ Freestanding Emergency Medical Care Facilities Licensing Rules.  The mechanical system was designed and installed to provide a high level of indoor air quality, which is particularly important in a healthcare environment.  Low-emitting materials were specified to contribute toward a healthy indoor air quality, and interior architectural details were carefully designed to discourage the spread or accumulation of dirt, bacteria, and other potentially harmful particulate matter.  Materials were specified to be durable and easy to maintain, to have a low embodied energy, and to have a long useful life cycle. 

With the Legacy ER at Allen building, the quality of the architecture, in aesthetic and pragmatic terms alike, was intended to set a paradigm of emergency medical care architecture for years to come. The distinctive architecture has transformed the community it entered and transcended the program by introducing the architectural poetics reflecting upon the position a community-centric freestanding emergency medical care facility.