The sweeping corner of the women’s health pavilion at Hoag Hospital’s newly opened Sun Family Campus in Irvine is more than just eye-catching architecture.
That embracing curve is an intentional gesture to welcome the real women visiting the gleaming three-story building to give birth, get a mammogram or undergo an exam or surgical procedure.
This is your building, it says. Inside and out.
An OBG emergency room. Comprehensive breast care center. Private birthing suites that boast walk-in showers with rainfall showerheads and birthing tubs worthy of a day spa.
Anxious expectant parents can stream services, such as Netflix or the NFL Channel, on the big in-room screens to relieve some stress.
The new cancer and digestive care center next door also offers special features for the patients it serves, including private infusion rooms, on-site labs and dedicated urgent care.
Cancer patients can move safely and discreetly from the legacy hospital to the specialty hospital via an underground tunnel.
Individual patient digital boards in each of the new pavilions are high-tech upgrades over standard white boards to keep instantaneous track of vital signs, care providers and other patient information.
“Science-based hospitality” is how Marcy Brown, Hoag’s senior vice president and chief operations officer, describes the guiding principle of the $1.2 billion expansion along Sand Canyon Avenue, which was completed last month.
“That was our true north when we designed the buildings,” Brown says.
“Science-based hospitality – that was our true north when we
Marcy Brown, Senior vice president and chief operations officer at Hoag
designed the buildings.”
Taking inspiration from master-planned iconic spaces – Irvine Spectrum Center and the Villages of Irvine – that help define the city’s lifestyle, Hoag worked with Irvine-based architectural firm LPA on six new buildings that add 155 inpatient beds and 11 operating rooms.
“We’ve got to remember the community we’re serving,” Brown says.
The result: a wellness village concept rather than a traditional hospital tower where patients might go from floor to floor for care. Here, each floor basically functions as a self-contained, one-stop shop.
Development of the campus was guided by an underlying philosophy of Hoag President and CEO Robert Braithwaite, Brown says.
“Our CEO always says to me, ‘Marcy, what’s best for the patient?’ ”
The Boldly Hoag fundraising campaign for the expansion kicked off in 2022. Construction took two years.
Other additions include a pavilion for advanced surgical procedures that opened in May, a laboratory and logistics pavilion, and last year’s completion of the rebuilt legacy hospital entrance that now resembles a luxurious hotel lobby.
Beyond the buildings and the interior amenities, three meditation gardens offer outdoor spaces for respite and contemplation – whether that be the desire of a patient, a visitor or a staff member.
“This entire campus is a garden,” Brown says.
