Chickasaw and other Native American culture and art influenced the design of this 72-bed replacement hospital located on a 230-acre rural site on tribal lands. The 358,000-square-foot medical center is strongly tied to its site, region and local culture. Patterns in basket weaving and textiles inspired fenestration and surface treatment of elevations and floors, while traditional Chickasaw colors with spiritual and cultural meaning influenced color selection throughout the building. The whole site is seen as a healing environment. There is no explicit “healing garden” but rather a whole series of landscape spaces for rejuvenation.

The medical center features a Level III emergency department, ambulatory surgery facility, diabetes care center, dental clinic, diagnostic imaging center, women’s health center, administrative offices and tribal health programs. It was designed to be more than just a healthcare facility for the Chickasaw Nation. A public space referred to as the “town center” occupies the mid-point of the building and separates hospital and clinic functions. The town center becomes a meeting place, a source of information about health services and an emblem of the Chickasaw Nation’s commitment to universal healthcare and the well-being of its people.

The building makes strategic use of glass in order to provide daylight in patient areas while at the same time orienting the bed tower north-south to minimize solar heat gain. Every patient room is given generous landscape views, uncluttered by roads, cars or other such intrusions. Larger visitor spaces in patient rooms, pleasant community rooms on the patient floors as well as the central gathering space in the town center all provide for the larger community’s participation in healthcare.