Houston TX — Grand openings and ribbon cuttings have become regular events for the busy studios throughout WHR Architects, Inc., as several major projects reached completion in the last few months.  Newly opened projects include: Oklahoma Heart Hospital South in Oklahoma City; Leah M. Fitch Lawton Cancer Center at Comanche County Memorial Hospital in Lawton, Oklahoma; Stephen F. Austin State University’s Richard and Lucille DeWitt School of Nursing in Nacogdoches, Texas; and The University of the Texas Health Science Center, Research Park Campus Behavioral and Biomedical Sciences Building at the Texas Medical Center in Houston.

"While we’ve hardly slowed down to celebrate, we are very proud of the achievement of our teams," notes WHR Chairman David Watkins, FAIA. "Each one of these projects is the result of close collaboration with our clients to create vanguard facilities designed to help them meet their missions — be it cardiac care or cancer treatment, nursing education or biomedical research."

Oklahoma Heart Hospital South Campus is a $98 million, 163,000 square foot, all-digital facility modeled after WHR’s highly successful project for Oklahoma Heart Hospital’s North Campus, which was completed in 2002. The new facility is a partnership of Oklahoma Heart Hospital, Mercy Health Center, Norman Regional Health System and Midwest Regional System. Bringing cardiovascular services to south Oklahoma City and eastern Oklahoma County, the 46-bed hospital opened with 16 ICU beds, 30 general cardiovascular rooms, 15 day beds and 10 emergency room beds, two operating rooms, four cath labs, an imaging department, pharmacy and lab, as well as administrative space.
 
Leah M. Fitch Lawton Cancer Center is a division of the Cancer Centers of Southwest Oklahoma and Comanche County Memorial Hospital. The $10.4 million, 25,843 square foot facility was developed for outpatient cancer care.  The Cancer Center, designed to provide each patient with an ideal overall experience, consists of three distinct cancer care programs including medical oncology, radiation oncology and physician/clinic related services. In designing the facility, special attention was given to the accommodation of family members and guests that accompany patients to treatments.

At Stephen F. Austin State University, the Richard and Lucille DeWitt School of Nursing building includes four simulation laboratories, four large classrooms, faculty and administrative offices, a conference room, separate lounges for students and faculty, as well as a large, enclosed atrium. With the opening of the new building, the award-winning DeWitt School of Nursing will almost quadruple its space to 41,000 square feet, including a 9,000 square foot simulation laboratory. As "the heart and soul" of the new facility, the laboratory is designed like a hospital and includes an emergency room with an ambulance bay, an intensive-care unit, a pediatric area and a neonatal intensive care unit.

The University of the Texas Health Science Center, Research Park Complex Behavioral and Biomedical Sciences Building, the first UT Health building to be completed in The University of Texas Research Park Complex, brings together faculty and students working in the behavioral and psychiatric sciences, health informatics, dental research and stem cell research. The $74 million, 153,000 square foot, six story facility includes a state-of-the-art regenerative medicine program. It also houses clinical research programs in psychiatry, and outpatient clinics offering assessments and specialized care for patients with autism, mood and anxiety disorders, alcohol and substance use problems, as well as other psychiatric disorders.

As satisfying as it has been to see years of commitment and hard work materialize as fully functioning facilities, the architects and designers at WHR hardly have time for congratulations — yet.  The spring and summer of 2010 will bring another round of significant project openings for the firm, including the much anticipated Methodist Hospital Outpatient Care Center at the Texas Medical Center in Houston, a 1.6 million square foot project that includes 500,000 square feet of clinical space and parking for 1,300 cars; the freestanding facility will provide state of the art healthcare via a highly personalized level of care and service. Also scheduled to open soon:  the Texas A&M; University at Galveston’s Science Building and Sea Life Center, a 108,000 square foot, $40 million research and education center.

The number, scale, and scope of these current and recent projects have helped to make WHR Architects the largest firm in Houston, and a nationally recognized leader in healthcare, education and laboratory design. However, for WHR the real metrics are not just numbers of employees, annual billings or square feet of construction. As Watkins says, "We measure our success by the improvement in health, wellbeing and productivity of the institutions and communities we serve."

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