Design for New Hospital Wins Award

July 24, 2007

Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital's planned replacement project has been awarded a Citation of Merit in Healthcare Design 2004, a publication devoted to featuring a comprehensive review of healthcare projects throughout the nation. Of the 142 entries submitted for review, Cottage's winning design was one of only eight awarded the Citation of Merit, the publication's highest award, and one of only two in the community hospital category. Read the magazine's article here.

The principal architects for the Cottage project, Lee, Burkhart, Liu, Inc. of Marina del Rey, and their proposed design for the Pueblo Street hospital, are showcased in this fourth annual awards edition of Healthcare Design. Award winners are recognized for creating environments that are functional, aesthetically appealing and which promote efficiency, while at the same time envisioning atmospheres that enhance the emotional well-being and physical comfort of patients, staff and visitors.

Co-sponsored by the not-for-profit Center for Health Design and Medquest Communications, this annual showcase review of healthcare facility projects seeks to advance the knowledge base of how design can contribute to the quality of health care.

Currently undergoing local and state approval, the New Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital will allow the not-for-profit hospital to meet new State of California seismic standards while providing a new 337-bed state-of-the-art teaching hospital and trauma center to serve the medical needs of the South and Central Coast . The rebuilding program, due to begin in 2005 with completion by 2012, involves phased construction of three nursing pavilions, together with a new entrance at Castillo and Pueblo and a diagnostic and therapeutic wing on the Junipero side of the hospital.

With no state funding provided to meet the new seismic standards, and facing a total project cost estimated at $400 million (revised figure as of March 2006--$550 million), the Cottage Health System Board of Directors plans to use a combination of hospital reserves, a tax-exempt bond issue, Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital Foundation assets, and a major community fundraising effort (The Campaign for Cottage Health System) to pay for the project.

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