Greeley Hospital: Bringing Care Where It’s Never Been

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UCHealth

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Greeley, Colorado

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325,500 SF

A modern healthcare waiting area with a contemporary design. The space features a mix of seating options, including blue armchairs, wooden-framed lounge chairs, and tall wooden barstools paired with a modern white freestanding table. A large window lets in natural light, showing the outside parking lot and distant tall apartments. Pendant lights with amber glass shades hang from the ceiling.

Modern waiting area within a healthcare facility. The space features floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking a parking lot and landscaped grounds. Blue armchairs and a round wooden table are positioned near the windows. A textured glass divider separates the seating area from a reception counter. The right side has a textured stone accent wall, recessed lighting, and additional seating where a person is using a laptop. Hanging wooden beams decorate the ceiling in the window area.

A modern healthcare waiting area with a contemporary design and warm feel. The space features a mix of seating options, including grey and black armchairs and wooden-framed lounge chairs. The walls are adorned with textured white paneling and warm wood accents, with a mounted flat-screen TV on one side. Hanging wooden beams decorate the entire ceiling, contributing to the warm and modern feel. Two women are seated in opposite chairs and are engaged in a conversation.

Modern hallway within the UCHealth Greeley Hospital. The space features floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking a parking lot and landscaped grounds. Blue armchairs and a round wooden table are positioned near the windows. The opposite wall is made of attractive wood panels protruding at different levels, creating a textured design.

Modern waiting area within UCHealth Greeley Hospital. The space features floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking a parking lot in the very back. Blue and green armchairs and round wooden side tables are positioned near the front. A textured glass divider separates the seating area from a reception counter. Hanging wooden beams decorate the ceiling in the left side of the room, creating an illusion of a path into the waiting area.

Modern hallway within the UCHealth Greeley Hospital. Two women in scrubs are walking down the hallway discussing patient information on a clipboard. On the right side, a warm wooden entryway leads to a provider work area with portable desks with monitors. There is a nurse's station in the middle of the entryway. This space was designed for with efficiency in mind for hospital staff.

UCHealth Greeley Hospital Patient Treatment Area

Infusion center or treatment room in the UCHealth Greeley Hospital with multiple semi-private stations. Each station has aqua blue reclining chairs with a wave pattern and is separated by wooden and glass partitions. Medical monitoring equipment is visible on small movable tables. Floor-to-ceiling windows provide natural light and views to the outdoors. The space has a curved layout with numbered stations, linear ceiling lights, and a clean, modern design with wood-tone and neutral colors.

Private patient labor and delivery room within UCHealth Greeley Hospital. Warm wooden accent panels decorate the wall behind the patient bed, a typical hospital bed on wheels. A hospital bassinet for infants is beside the bed and is equipped for medical monitoring of an infant. A ceiling-mounted examination light and curtain track are visible above. A light blue recliner chair and matching footstool provide seating for visitors. Through the doorway, a green-accented nursing station is visible.

Close up of the exterior architectural elements of the UCHealth Greeley Hospital, including a sleek wooden-paneled wall with large windows and large metal beams supporting the structure.

BSA partnered with UCHealth to design the Greeley Hospital in Greeley, Colorado — a modern, 325,500-square-foot healthcare facility that delivers advanced care with a community-focused approach. The hospital was designed to offer emergency, surgical, inpatient, and outpatient services in one convenient location, combining efficient operations with a welcoming, healing environment.

Project Overview

The growing communities of Greeley and Weld County lacked local access to state-of-the-art medical care. This lack of access required community members to travel a minimum of 33 miles for specialty services and treatments. After recognizing the growing need, UCHealth began planning the new hospital and ambulatory care center. Design challenges the team needed to address included determining which specialty care services were simultaneously in highest demand and also most beneficial to their community.

UCHealth Greeley Hospital serves as a regional medical hub for Northern Colorado, with features that include:

Acute Care Services: 50 inpatient beds with flexibility for future expansion
Comprehensive emergency department with dedicated trauma rooms
Advanced surgical suites supporting multiple specialties
Diagnostic imaging and laboratory services for efficient diagnosis and treatment
Healing-focused interiors with natural light and comfortable family spaces

The 23-acre campus is comprised of a hospital and ambulatory medical center with three primary goals:

Create a community connection
Maintain a cohesive brand
Promote a healthy lifestyle

Design Approach

BSA’s healthcare design team collaborated with UCHealth leaders, physicians, and community stakeholders to create a hospital that balances state-of-the-art technology with a welcoming, patient-first experience.

Design priorities included:

Evidence-Based Design: Strategic placement of care areas to reduce patient transfers and improve staff efficiency.
Sustainability: Energy-efficient systems and materials that reduce operational costs.
Flexibility: Adaptable spaces to accommodate future growth and evolving medical practices.

Firstly, to ensure efficient hospital system design, the project implemented prototypical room types to ensure optimal utilization for the community. This also provided integrated healthcare solutions that maintained consistency while optimizing healthcare facility maintenance. The design team looked for areas of improvement while keeping the system as a whole in mind.

Maintain a Cohesive Brand

Careful thought was put into how to connect to the community with the built environment while maintaining the iconic form of the UCHealth brand. The design team studied forms and an aesthetic story that could reinforce a sense of place to ensure that the UCHealth Greeley Hospital had brand recognition with local roots.

The Result

The hospital is a 4-story facility with 50-beds designed to expand to 150 beds. Even more, the campus acts as a gateway into Greeley and features a branded arch-shaped roof. The design maximizes revenue-generating space through a right-sized patient room and other efficiency metrics. Intensive and inpatient care, emergency, surgery, radiology, advanced cardiology, a birth center, as well as an in-house pharmacy services are included. The hospital connects to a 3-story ambulatory medical center that includes clinics, outpatient infusion, women’s imaging, physical therapy, pre-admission testing, and administrative space.

The clinics feature a “center stage” modular clinic design composed of 10-12 prototypical exam rooms centered on a multidisciplinary care team station.

Finally, the design uses form and materiality to reference the surrounding landscape and landmarks nestled up to the Rocky Mountains. The layout and features connect patients to nature to benefit from its physical and spiritual healing properties resulting in a holistic healing experience.

Impact & Results

Since its opening, UCHealth Greeley Hospital has:

Reduced patient travel time for specialty care by providing local access to advanced services
Increased inpatient capacity for the growing Northern Colorado population
Improved patient satisfaction through private rooms and family-centered amenities

A Master Plan for Future Growth

Recognized as a best healthcare architecture firm, BSA developed a comprehensive campus master plan to evolve alongside UCHealth’s growth. This plan ensures the facility remains adaptable to emerging healthcare technologies, therefore reinforcing BSA’s expertise in science and technology engineering and hospital renovation.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: What makes this hospital’s design unique?
A: The design consolidates multiple services under one roof, thus improving patient convenience and care coordination.

Q: How does the design support future growth?
A: Flexible floor plans and infrastructure allow the hospital to expand capacity and services as the community’s needs change.

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Disciplines

Architecture, Interior Design, Planning