Kaiser Permanente launches small hospital design competition

Kaiser Permanente is planning a structural departure: It wants to build a small hospital, rather than its usual large medical center.

Since it’s stepping out of its comfort zone, the company launched a design competition, “Small Hospital, Big Idea,” in February, seeking an open hospital design from students, architects, engineers, designers and multidisciplinary teams for a small hospital to be built in southern California.

“We are not just looking for dynamic building designs,” said Benjamin Chu, MD, president of Kaiser Permanente’s Southern California region, in a press release. “We want a partner with fresh ideas on how technology and medicine can reshape our current medical delivery infrastructure to provide even more exceptional, effective and convenient care to our members.”

Kaiser is looking for a small hospital design that will reduce costs, offer the latest technology and a healing-centered environment to patients, and have little or no impact on the environment. Officials hope the new  hospital will serve as a model for future projects.

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Registration for the free competition began on February 28 and ends at 5 p.m. Pacific time on March 21. Finalists will be announced in May and will receive up to $750,000 in compensation to further develop their design concepts. The winner will earn the right to contract with Kaiser for the project.

To enter the competition, go to http://design.kpnfs.com.