Maricopa County Public Health Building

Designed to replace an outdated, over crowded and unhealthy existing facility, the new 53,473 SF Maricopa County Public Health Building takes advantage of sustainable design strategies to create a state of the art facility just east of downtown Phoenix. The primary goal of the facility was to create an open and welcome place where county residents could come and be diagnosed and treated for public diseases. Ease of way finding for multilingual visitors along with safety and security for staff were additional pressing concerns. The zoning of the facility into public, semi-public and private areas allows the clinic to operate effectively and efficiently and handle various levels of visitors during various times of day or year.

Daylighting was considered very important and a two story light well in the central waiting hall provides diffused natural light to give the public areas a healthy and calming feel. The interior clinical spaces on the ground floor were designed to surround a centrally located testing and diagnostic laboratory. Having spent forty years crammed into the belly of the existing facility, the new lab has ample daylight and an obvious connection to the rest of the facility without sacrificing security and potential contamination issues. Flexible lab benches with “plug and play” overhead service carriers give the lab maximum flexibility for future operational and technological changes. The facility was planned to provide for the needs of a growing county without losing touch with human scale and the sensitive mind states of its clientele. Funded with public dollars the new facility succeeds in providing a lasting place to promote, preserve and protect the health of Maricopa County residents.