The Koman Outpatient Pavilion is a subtle addition to UCSD Health’s La Jolla campus that knits together what was once a parking lot and gap in the pedestrian character of this busy area. It creates a respite and meeting courtyard on the Health Sciences walk at a critical juncture, providing a welcoming entrance for patients, visitors and caregivers alike. The Pavilion’s quiet exterior appearance, which is broken into wings to reduce scale and invite daylight into its core, is an effective foil to the surrounding assemblage of buildings and landscape. But upon closer examination – even from the outside – the dynamic and light filled interior spaces behind the pavilion’s patient-privacy and sustainability focused exterior are revealed.

The biggest surprise upon entering the building are the many vistas offered for patients, visitors and staff; it features multi-story, light-filled atriums at the center of the caregiver’s teamwork and collaboration areas. The open and colorful public waiting areas have expansive windows with views looking north towards the campus thoroughfare, and south-facing views overlooking the natural canyon preserve. In support of UCSD Health’s focus on clinical excellence, the key features of the Pavilion are the internal atriums, which house the central work spaces where doctors, nurses and providers collocate. The atriums provide space for caregiver collaboration and well-being, supporting staff as they provide care to patients and families. The Pavilion obviously has saved its greatest features for its heart – where the caregivers provide care and work as a team.

Surrounding these “heart” day lit collaboration and work atriums are a diverse range of outpatient clinics and treatment areas, each of which feel intimate, friendly and private. The clinics are identified by vibrant color along the light-filled open waiting areas to help with patient wayfinding. Another surprising building feature is the orthopedics program’s second level indoor/outdoor rehabilitation space and therapy deck. Stretching out dramatically towards the natural preserve, patients can receive physical therapy on the deck while fully immersed in the environment and the campus landscape. Similarly, on the uppermost floor, lengthy patient treatment therapies are conducted overlooking the canyon and landscape beyond.

All in all, the Koman Family Outpatient Pavilion, though unassuming at first glance, offers a multitude of surprising and thoughtful experiences in support of patient and caregiver healing and wellbeing.