Meaningful Details and A Bold Color Palette Honors the Culture of the Diverse Community

Healthcare Design Magazine recently featured “Colors Of The World: Legacy Community Health Southwest Clinic“. In the article, the author Mathew Hall goes into detail about the meaning behind the design. Hired by Legacy,  Perkins&Will (Houston) acted as the project’s master planner, architect, and interior designer. The Design team chose thoughtful details and a bold color palette to pay homage to the culture of the diverse community. (source)

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A mural by local artists and a bold color palette brighten the facade of the new Legacy Community Health Southwest Clinic. The hues and motifs of textiles are chosen to pay homage to the cultures of the area’s diverse community. The southwest side of Houston is home to two adjoining and struggling neighborhoods: Gulfton and Sharpstown, where more than 30 percent of residents live below the poverty line and high rates of chronic disease persist. (source)

Waiting areas in the new clinic continue the bold color pallet. Furniture is grouped into family-oriented seating pods to accommodate large families who accompany their loved ones.

"The project team sought to deliver a facility that connected with the community..."

Meaningful Details

Beyond improving the patient and staff experience at the clinic, the project team sought to deliver a facility that connected with the community. That message begins at the entry experience with an exterior mural created by Houston-based artists Angel Quesada and Jesse Sifuentes. Using cathedral glass and acrylic enamel paint, the six 11-foot-tall panels are titled “Together With the Sun.” Inspired by the colors and motifs of textiles from Latin America, Asia, and Africa—the predominant home regions of the neighborhoods’ residents—the figures in the panels represent hopeful and iconic depictions of families and communal social structures, with the sun symbolizing life-giving warmth, Davis says.

Further reflecting the diversity of the area it serves—where residents originate from a total of 80 countries and speak 50 languages—the building’s exterior façade incorporates a bold color palette of bright turquoise, orange, and yellow hues to pay homage to the cultures and textiles of the previously mentioned regions as well as serve as a nod to Legacy’s logo.

A motif similar to the exterior plays out throughout the clinic’s interiors, including handcrafted panels by artisans from the African country of Senegal that are incorporated into the railing of the main stair and as privacy screens within the pharmacy. In addition, the interior’s public spaces feature mosaic tiled walls and backlit signage that serve as both cultural symbols and support for the clinic’s color-coded wayfinding system. (source)

Project Team

Project Name: Legacy Community Health Southwest Clinic

Owner: Legacy Community Health

Architect: Perkins&Will

Interior Designers: Perkins&Will, Legacy Community Health

General Contractor: Harvey Builders

Engineers: Walter P Moore (structural and civil), E&C Engineers (MEP)

Builder: Harvey Builders

Public art consultant: WAG – Weingarten Art Group

Carpet/flooring: Patcraft, Tarkett

Ceiling/wall systems: Armstrong, Ceilings Plus

Doors/locks/hardware: DIRTT

Fabric/textiles: Standard Textile

Furniture—seating/casegoods: Staples, Allseating

Lighting: Delray, Luminis, 3Form, Corelite, Metalux, Atlantic Lighting, Neo-Ray, Nulite, Ametrix

Signage/wayfinding: Riot Creative Imaging, Neon Electric Co.

Surfaces—solid/other: Avonite Surfaces, 3Form

Wallcoverings: Wolf Gordon

Source:

Mathew Hall. “Acute Care.” HCD Magazine Colors Of The World Legacy Community Health Southwest Clinic Comments, 2021, healthcaredesignmagazine.com/projects/colors-of-the-world-legacy-community-health-southwest-clinic/#slide-6.

Marie Wikoff is the creator of Wikoff Design Studio based out of Reno, Nevada. Her expertise in healthcare design has helped modernize healthcare organizations locally, regionally, and internationally, improving patient experience and outcomes. Her credentials include Evidence-Based Design Accreditation and Certification (EDAC), American Academy of Healthcare Interior Designer (CHID), the National Council of Interior Design Qualification (NCIDQ) and LEED AP. Contact Marie Wikoff