Newsletter of the College of Architecture at Texas A&M University
Students in a spring 2009 Architecture-for-Health studio at Texas A&M’s College of Architecture presented design concepts for a new National Taiwan University Cancer Center and Proton Center May 4 at the HKS offices in Dallas.
Eleven students working in four teams worked with architects from HKS to create designs for the 1.3 million square foot, 500-bed cancer center that will offer proton therapy in four rotating beam rooms, radiation therapy, chemotherapy, a surgery department with 12 operating rooms, bone marrow transplant units, an outpatient clinic, a stem cell transplant center and a preventative medicine center. When built, the facility will provide Taiwan’s most advanced cancer treatment services.
The students worked under the direction of George Mann, holder of the Skaggs-Sprague Endowed Chair in Health Facilities Design; Joseph McGraw, professor emeritus; Kazuhiko Okamoto, an assistant professor from the University of Tokyo and Kauma Corporation visiting scholar; and Ruka Okamoto, a visiting scholar.
HKS principals Ron Skaggs and Joe Sprague collaborated with the students throughout the semester, as did designers Laurence Chiang, Shannon Kraus, Alex Ling, Naresh Mathur and Alex Wang.
Students also worked with Taipei architectural firm J.J. Pan & Partners.
“The design effort creates a win-win for all involved,” said Craig Beale, FAIA, FACHA, and principal/director of HKS’ healthcare group. “It allows the National Taiwan University to provide progressive, convenient healthcare services, taking into account the creative thinking of the next generation of design talent.”
HKS is internationally recognized in the healthcare field, having completed more than 600 health and hospital facility projects on a national and international level since 1971.
Students received extensive background for their work via the college’s Architecture-For-Health lecture series with presentations from Erin Fleener, an oncologist at St. Joseph Cancer Clinic, and HKS principals Skaggs and Sprague, who detailed their firm’s health care projects in the U.S. and abroad.
Mann, who directed the studio, said the student designs included sustainable features such as healing garden areas, including several rooftop gardens, located throughout the designs.
The students also proposed that the hospital establish mobile units to allow the center’s health care professionals to circulate throughout the island nation and provide community-level education, cancer treatment and prevention said Mann.
Since 1966, students in Architecture-for-Health studios have collaborated on more than 600 health-related design projects for a variety of clients and organizations around the world.
