The service area for the Medical West Campus of the University of Alabama-Birmingham (UAB) in Bessemer, Ala., is a largely rural area in West Jefferson County, and patients often travel long distances from neighboring counties to receive care. The previous hospital, opened in 1964, was undersized for the growing population of the area. Furthermore, its services were spread across various disjointed departments with confusing layouts.
“It was time for a replacement,” notes Dan Luhrs, AIA, a principal at HKS Inc., who served as the senior project architect and senior project manager on the UAB Medical West project. “And the second part of it was that they wanted to make their prevention and treatment services more centrally located to the population base they serve.”
The effort to replace the hospital began in 2017. The idea was to create a flexible, efficient and accessible facility that could grow and evolve as the region’s population expanded…