Late Spring of 2021 saw the opening of Kaiser Permanente’s first Medical Office Building in Berkeley. The new facility, which has a warm, welcoming design, increases options for the many members who live between Oakland and Richmond and will decrease member demand pressures in Oakland.
KMD Architects led the design and planning of interior Tenant Improvements of the new developer built cold-shell building designed by Gould Evans. The three-story, 62,000 SF building includes Adult Family Medicine, Pediatrics, OB/Gyn, Pharmacy, Laboratory, Imaging (X-Ray and Mammography) and Mental Health services. It was constructed with the latest medical technology, including telemedicine capabilities. The KP Berkelely MOB is “designed to meet KP's vision for the future, where outpatient healthcare is interwoven into people's daily lives.” There are 72 exam rooms and 42 provider offices.
Pediatric waiting area
KMD’s scope included predesign, programming, schematic design, design development, construction documents, permitting, and construction administration. KMD’s key objective, was to ‘Kaiserize’ this building, by incorporating Next Generation concepts, enhancing member experience and improving efficiency. KMD’s TI includes many green features such as non-toxic construction materials and LED lighting throughout. The core and shell have been certified LEED Gold—LEED Silver certification for interiors is pending.
Floorplan of level 2
Within the three offset and irregular building floor plates, KMD was able to accommodate planning concepts by focusing upon the patient experience. Patients are allowed to move freely throughout public areas on each floor, leveraging communication technology to arrive at distributed waiting areas and clinic portals, in time for scheduled appointments. Office spaces were designed to be functional, calming, and familiar for members.
Patient exam room
“The interior design offers quality clinical services and aesthetics that support member comfort in a calming environment,” said Judith Park, MD, and Rita Ng, MD, physicians in chief for the Permanente Medical Group, East Bay.
Staff amenity area
A clear on-stage/off-stage organization concept places patient portals near the exam room pods within the center of each floor, surrounded by and serviced from dedicated staff work areas along the periphery of the building. Activities within each exam pod focus upon patient care, while the continuous staff zone provides quiet work areas for MAs and Care Providers for collaboration, completion of administrative tasks and privacy for virtual patient visits.
“Speed to market” goals led to design and documentation for KMD's Tenant Improvements overlapping with concurrent construction of the building shell. The exterior shell was designed by another firm and construction began during KMD’s documentation phases. The General Contractor provided Design-Assist Services, including weekly construction coordination throughout design, and identification of areas to be redesigned or modified during TI design phases to avoid future changes.
As a fast tracked project, with modifications during construction and occurring daily during design sessions, the KMD Design Team provided alternative options, and concurrent planning and consideration of MEP systems. Ultimately, KMD successfully collaborated with multiple stakeholders; a second design firm, a Program Manager, Developer, Shell & Core and TI contractor teams and the client, to deliver a state of the art healthcare facility.