CallisonRTKL and SmithGroupJJR Design New Karmanos Center

By Ariela Moraru

Karmanos Cancer Institute

Detroit—The Karmanos Cancer Institute, a project jointly designed by CallisonRTKL and SmithGroupJJR, has opened at the McLaren Port Huron campus. The construction of the $21-million 35,000-square-foot facility at 1221 Pine Grove Ave. in Port Huron, was carried out by the joint venture of Barton Malow and Christman Co.

The facility is the first phase of a larger transformation underway at the 186-bed non-profit McLaren Port Huron hospital. The two teams continue to provide master planning, programming, and conceptual design services for the McLaren Port Huron campus.

The center is one of 14 Karmanos cancer treatment sites in Michigan and integrates chemotherapy and radiation therapy into one facility. The center features a linear accelerator that delivers external-beam radiation to the tumor without damaging the surrounding healthy tissue. The facility also features twelve chemotherapy infusion bays on the second floor, heated massage lounge chairs, televisions. In addition, the center provides multidisciplinary teams focused on 13 specific types of care, genetic counseling and testing, and patient navigation services, including the coordination of support care.

“The project team drew inspiration from the surrounding environment for the design of the cancer center,” said Bob Varga, AIA, LEED AP BD+C, SmithGroupJJR, in prepared remarks. “On the building exterior, metal panels ‘ripple’ in color, just as the nearby river does while the glassy stair towers act as light houses identifying the cancer center. The interior continues the same thought with materials in blues and warm natural hues.”

Image courtesy of SmithGroupJJR