HDR Selected for New Long-Term Care Facility in Saudi Arabia

By Roxanne Squires

AL-ASHA, Saudi Arabia – A new rehabilitation and long-term care facility is in the works from Al Moosa Medical Group as a part of the group’s mission to expand their influence across the region in an effort to address a need for focused rehabilitation and long-term care hospitals.

The design of the roughly 645,834-square-foot facility was recently unveiled by Malek Al Moosa, the CEO of Al Moosa Medical Group.

The 24-bed unit will offer an efficient and functional treatment facility, serving as a rehabilitative and long-term care oasis in the region to provide rehabilitation programs for sports injuries, bone injuries for adults and children, spinal injuries, and neural and brain injuries.

The project enables the medical group to establish a foundation for a universal model of care as well as granting the facility the ability to bend and change to meet the way particular units function, evolve, expand and contract. This new facility used virtual reality to design each major space as a means of design iteration and was designed within the virtual environment, allowing for real-time feedback.

HDR was selected as the architect; bringing together design and planning experts to create a master plan for the new facility for Al Moosa, which aims to reflect the highest level of international medical and architectural design.

The facility is designed to reduce energy consumption and preserve the surrounding environment, essentially laid out as a micro village, embracing the oasis surrounding landscape and encouraging healing through its connection to nature.

Key features include tiered green steps originating on the ground level rise to the rehab center containing the gym and pool, shading the parking below and offering healing and visual engagement for patients and staff as part of the rehabilitation regimen.

A gym and pool structure displays an expansive green roof.

An enclosed garden within the lobby, complemented by personalized gardens and rehabilitative green spaces at every inpatient floor of the bed tower, ensures access to nature, irrespective of mobility for everybody.

A shielding enclosure created by a seamless and continuous solar screen wraps both the taller inpatient bed tower as well as the lower rehab gym and pool.

A winding screen follows a rippling pattern and is designed to parametrically change from façade to façade to compensate for the solar heat gain of its specific location and function. Lastly, on the inpatient tower, the screen opens up to the multi-level hanging gardens at the corners of each triangular floor plate.

All spaces were designed to create the most positive experience for patients to minimize anxiety and stress. Patients and visitors will arrive through a five-star hotel-style lobby with abundant waiting areas and surrounding retail outlets, including a pharmacy and dining as well as a hanging garden and water features.

The double-height volume and transparent layout will allow visitors to navigate the facility with ease. Patient rooms are designed to improve the patient and visitor experience, allowing space for families and loved ones to visit and connect socially while providing views of the regional landscape.

Reports from HDR Architecture contributed to this story.