Medical Offices Designed to be Cohesive Yet Unique

Five medical practices are linked together by a common design theme

In 2014, The Valley Hospital of Ridgewood, NJ purchased a 150,000 SF medical office building and decided the facility’s 24,000 SF third floor would be home to Valley Heart Group, Heart Care for Women, Hospital Heart Risk and Screening Program, Comprehensive Heart Care Imaging Services and a Respiratory Care Practice. Collectively, these five specialties created the Michael R. Luckow Heart Center, named after a man who passed away from a heart attack at the young age of 44. The Luckow Family Foundation gifted the hospital with $5 million to establish the Center in Michael’s name. Robert Luckow, Michael’s uncle said “This Center, named in memory of Michael, will ensure that our community has access to state-of-the art cardiac services in one convenient location.”

The challenge was to create a space for these five unique but complimentary practices; to be contiguous, but separate. Valley Medical Group gave the interior design challenge to DesignPoint in Bethlehem, PA.

“The third floor space was previously occupied by a financial services group, and it was a complete renovation, tearing everything out leaving only the main structure,” says Les McCoy, president of DesignPoint. “We started with a fresh canvas and provided the complete interior architecture and design for the new Center.”

The design process commenced with meetings with the key practices of Cardiology and Imaging at their existing locations. McCoy and his team interviewed physicians, nurses, office staff and other health professionals. They analyzed how the practices worked, what they liked and disliked about their current facilities. McCoy guided the hospital leadership through an evaluation of the floor space of the new Center, testing space plans and workflow. DesignPoint drafted preliminary layouts and eventually converted them into full construction documents.

“We had many meetings and a lot communications,” recalls McCoy when describing how they worked through the coordination of the ideas of everyone involved. “It was a balancing act to create one core design theme and to respect all the personalities, philosophies and the way each practice operated.” Eventually, under McCoy’s guidance the team settled on a design that everyone embraced.

The Center opened in early 2015, and today the Luckow Center is buzzing with activity. Patients are greeted on the third floor with tranquil earth tones and exciting interior details to create a state-of-the-art facility. DesignPoint’s team selected a warm palette of materials in abstract patterns with a modern mix of organic textures. The high performance materials and efficient LED lighting used throughout transformed the space into a sustainable environment, designed to inspire life, but both sophisticated and vibrant. The center also includes a public meeting room with teaching kitchen to host classes on nutritious cooking and eating. Besides cooking classes a yoga studio was also included to teach mental control and well-being for creating a sense of inner peace, harmony, and clarity of mind.

McCoy credits the outcome of the project with DesignPoint’s 20 years of experience. “We have worked with many industries and thousands of clients. We take a methodical approach to creating great spaces and much of it involves listening to our clients.”

Located in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, DesignPoint works on both regional and national levels. DesignPoint, Inc. is a full service Interior Design & Procurement Firm with a focus on corporate, hospitality, senior living, medical offices and high-end residential interiors. When considering new interior construction or renovations, DesignPoint will provide a comprehensive package of interior architectural space planning, construction documents, and furniture, fixtures and equipment (FF&E) procurement services for a successful project. For more information about the firm and the type of projects they manage, visit them online at www.designpoint-interiors.com