HKS Designing Apollo Reach Prototype Hospitals

INDIA – HKS Architects, with an office in Chennai, India, is commissioned to design 10 Apollo Hospitals across India, based on a prototype under the brand Apollo Reach Hospitals – a first-of-its-kind endeavor to make advanced technology and experienced care accessible to the people living in cities around India.

As one of the largest health systems in Asia, it has always been a desire at Apollo Hospitals Enterprise Limited to extend their expertise, experience and technology in healthcare to various parts of the country. Apollo Hospitals’ commitment to further the advances in telemedicine and make good healthcare more accessible led to the emergence of a new model based on the concept of Hub and Spoke facilities. 

While Apollo Nellore is in the advanced stages of planning and design, two facilities in Chennai and Nashik already are under construction by Larsen & Toubro and Shapoorji Pallonji, two of India’s leading construction companies.

According to Gaurav Chopra, LEED AP, Associate AIA, IIA, practice leader for the South Asia Region for HKS, to develop a prototype that could be replicated (operationally) on various sites, the design team set out to develop a kit of parts for a standardized approach that could be applied on varying site conditions.

“Each facility is comprised of a modular 24-bed unit inpatient tower containing multi-specialty disciplines. Each hospital will accommodate 100 to 150 beds, scheduled to open sequentially, starting in fall 2013.”

The 140,000-square-foot Ayanambakkam Reach Hospital is designed as a 150 to 200-bed prototype, intended to be site-adapted in 10 cities across semi-urban and rural India. The hospital will provide specialty services that include emergency, trauma, imaging, general surgery, orthopedics, cardiovascular, outpatient clinics, blood donor center, neurology and neonatal ICU. Its design utilizes a dual-bed tower as the building’s core element. Designed to be LEED-certified, the project was additionally influenced by principles from Vastu, an ancient Indian science to achieve harmony between man and nature.

The 120,000-square-foot, 100-bed Apollo Reach Hospital in Nashik will provide specialty services that include emergency, trauma, imaging, general surgery, orthopedics, cardiovascular, outpatient clinics, blood donor center, neurology and neonatal ICU. Designed as a vertically stacked hospital because of the small site, the hospital will seek LEED certification. Principles from Vastu were followed in the project’s design.

HKS, ranked among the top healthcare-specialized architectural firms by Modern Healthcare and BD World Architecture, understands and embraces holistic healthcare. Operating from 23 offices throughout the United States, Latin America, United Kingdom, Middle East, India and China, the firm focuses on innovative design, process and delivery. Through a focused visioning approach, HKS collaborates with each client to evaluate transformational concepts that support and improve the patient and family experience, operational efficiency, the latest in technology and future flexibility.  For more information, visit www.hksinc.com.