The Premium Health women’s health clinic in Brooklyn is among several recent health care projects by New Brunswick-based DIGroup Architecture — Courtesy: DIGroup
By Joshua Burd
New Brunswick-based DIGroup Architecture is marking the growth of its health care portfolio with the debut of a new facility and the groundbreaking for another, both in the Bronx.
According to the firm, the projects include Urban Health Plan’s newly opened, 8,000-square-foot extension clinic at its Community Health Center at 866 East Tremont Ave. The second project, meantime, is a planned 52,000-square-foot facility at 1095 Southern Blvd., which it said is being designed to address some of the most critical issues impacting residents of the Hunts Point and Longwood neighborhoods.
Both are designated federally qualified health centers, providing vulnerable populations with access to community-based primary and specialized medical, dental, behavioral and vision health services.
“Federally qualified health centers are an important public-health gateway in their communities,” said Bob Ryan, DIG’s health care principal. “While those who render every facet of care and make these centers tick are the true heroes, our firm is committed to helping clinicians, patients and communities in the best way we know how: by providing architectural, design and environmental graphics solutions that ensure they can deliver care effectively, efficiently and safely to improve the overall health of the communities they serve. In this respect, we share a mutual mission to bring quality care to all.”
DIG detailed the UHP projects this week, touting its long history of providing health care-design services to federally qualified health centers as well as acute care hospitals, urgent care facilities, addiction treatment centers and diagnostic and ambulatory services centers. The firm noted that, in addition to their role in providing vital health services and addressing emergent public health needs, federally qualified health centers also spur economic development and environmental health opportunities.
In addition, DIG has completed assignments on behalf of Zufall Health of New Jersey, as well as Premium Health and Bronx Community Health Network in New York City.
“Health care is perhaps one of the fastest-evolving industries, from technology to once-in-a-lifetime epidemics,” Ryan said. “When we start a new project, we immerse ourselves in questions and feedback that enable us to design a usable space while future-proofing its viability as health care evolves. The key for us is flexibility. We rely on our health care experts to help us understand how their practice is evolving so we can provide a design that’s purpose-built and timeless.”
DIG added that the evolution and need for flexibility in health care buildings crystalized during the COVID-19 pandemic. For instance, the firm pointed to shifts in revising patient flow, shifting resources to support telehealth, adding antimicrobial and air filtration efforts and increasing isolation space and negative pressure spaces.
“It is clear that health care facilities must be built or retrofitted for the manner in which care is provided today with a vision for the possibilities of 10 to 20 years from now,” Ryan said. “We have to be innovative, forward-looking and rethink how we design these spaces for optimal use for a range of medical modalities and scenarios.”
