SEARHC Ethel Lund Medical Center
SEARHC Ethel Lund Medical Center
Juneau, Alaska
This 33,000 SF foot facility delivers both modern and traditional health care services to Native Alaskans. With input from Tribal Elders, who felt the facility should reflect the heritage of its users; our objective was to create a modern facility that honors the cultures and traditions of Alaska's indigenous people. The facility was to create a sense of belonging encouraging individuals and families to actively pursue and participate in healthcare. To evoke this, elements of the natural environment and natural light were combined to create a familiar, comfortable setting. An outdoor healing garden flanks the entrance to the building. The lobby resembles a quiet forest setting of "cedar trees" created from natural cedar round bases capped in copper and hand tooled posts extending to wood beams above. The lobby is washed in natural light in the morning through stepped windows. In the afternoon light trickles through clerestory windows screened by a cedar lattice wall, similar to light through a forest canopy. The character of the lobby is introduced through the core of the building through repetition of the cedar trees and clerestory windows. Construction was completed in 2004 at a cost of $7,000,000.
* Photos by Ken Graham