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On the island of St. Croix, plans are underway for the future Dr. Donna M. Christian Christensen Health Center, a staple of stability grounded by resilience, community, and hope. The new public health center will replace the U.S. Virgin Islands Department of Health facility that was critically damaged by hurricanes Irma and Maria in 2017, filling a significant longstanding community need for public health services.

At EDRA57, the annual Environmental Design Research Association (EDRA) conference, Flad Principal Steve Jackson is leading a presentation about the design of the new 115,000-square-foot replacement hospital, starting with pre-visioning stakeholder interviews and collaborative visioning sessions to establish guiding principles that emphasize community, compassionate and quality care, future-focus, and resilience and sustainability.

Research and data analysis were conducted to validate perceptions shared during visioning and further understand the local community needs, population, healthcare network, and operations. The project team coupled this information with benchmarks and best practices to confirm services, sizing, and key unit quantities for the new public health facility. This analysis also uncovered several unique challenges related to navigating services in a remote location.

Once complete, the new public health center aims to become not only the public health provider on St. Croix, but a beacon of resilience, permanence, and hope for the broader USVI territory. A multi-method post-occupancy evaluation is planned after opening to evaluate how well the design achieved the vision and principles.