An International Destination for Cancer Care
Baptist Health South Florida, Miami Cancer Institute
Healthcare
When it embarked on the design of the Miami Cancer Institute, Baptist Health South Florida (BHSF) aspired to create a distinctive, highly visible destination cancer institute, one that would embody the most advanced practices in cancer treatment to serve patients in Florida, Latin America, and the Caribbean. Since opening in 2017, the comprehensive center provides superior clinical and translational research programs to support the advancement of cancer prevention and care in a welcoming, hopeful, healing environment, while enhancing the ability to recruit luminary leadership and develop partnerships and affiliations with premier academic and research institutions.
Located on BHSF's park-like campus, Miami Cancer Institute's architectural design articulates the institute's strengths in cancer treatment as fresh, distinctive, substantial, and cutting-edge. The four-story building reflects an evolution of the established campus vernacular, adapting existing elements—stucco, masonry, red clay tile roofs, deep overhangs, and loggias—in a balanced and contemporary composition.
Location
Miami, FL
Square Feet
438,755
Completion date
2017
Certifications
LEED Certification
A full-height aluminum curtain wall provides a bright, dramatic expression at the building entrance and establishes a clear arrival experience for patients and family.
MCI's composition is tied together through several unifying gestures: broad overhanging eaves with red tile roofs, a dramatic entrance loggia that extends the length of the north wing, and a glass entry tower that anchors the composition.
A Healing and Restorative Environment
Miami Cancer Institute's interior environment is bright, fresh, airy, and non-institutional. The concept "restore" informed the use of natural and regional materials like wood and limestone, reflective surfaces, and cool undertones. Using nature as a guide, palettes for individual clinics and treatment spaces were inspired by nearby beaches, tropical vegetation, coral reefs, and the wetlands. The design embraces evidence-based design principles by connecting patients with nature through access and views to outdoor gardens and terraces. A multi-level jellyfish tank in the central atrium further contributes to the restorative environment.
Upon arrival, patients enter a double-height, light-filled atrium from which they can access central information, registration services, patient and family support, a boutique, a multi-purpose room, and café.
Waiting and circulation spaces are combined in open galleries characterized by floor-to-ceiling windows that provide ample natural light and feature etched glass screens that help subdivide the spaces, creating semi-private areas to wait.
A lush, park-like landscape offers a serene setting for treatment and healing. MCI offers courtyards, gardens, and terraces, creating healthy places of respite for patients, their families, and staff.
A Highly Visible Symbol of Supportive Cancer Treatment
Careful attention was paid to the flow of patients, staff, and materials to facilitate the most efficient delivery of care and to provide an exceptional user experience. The centrality of key spaces and clarity in circulation provides a highly visible symbol of supportive cancer treatment. Miami Cancer Institute's organization also facilitates the operation of individual clinics, each of which provides comprehensive related services, and allows for the development of specialized, disease-centered practices that can accommodate daily fluctuations in patient volume.
The ground level houses diagnostic imaging services, including PET/CT, CTs, MRI, Gamma Camera, ultrasound, and X-ray. Similarly, radiation oncology is easily accessible off the entry and houses Varian Linear Accelerators, tomotherapy, Gamma Knife, and Cyber Knife. On the second level, patients can access the breast center, medication oncology services, a patient-family resource center, and an outpatient pharmacy. The third level's shared spaces are organized around a central registration and phlebotomy area and include a suite for psycho-social support complemented by spaces for meditation and chapel services. The fourth level accommodates 68 infusion bays and 10 ‘rapid-treatment’ stations.
Diverse amenities—such as patient and family resources, education space, nutrition, dining, meditation space, an outpatient pharmacy, and gardens—support every aspect of the patient’s healing.
To take advantage of sweeping views and natural light, infusion is located on the building's top floor. Patients can choose between private spaces that accommodate family and friends or bays with sliding doors that allow them to socialize with their neighbors.
Proton Therapy
Late in the design process, BHSF decided to add proton therapy to the radiation oncology program. This advanced form of treatment spares healthy tissue and eliminates many of the side effects of conventional radiation. Because proton therapy reduces the risk of damage to soft tissues and bones and decreases the patient's chances of developing additional tumors later in life, it is particularly useful for treating childhood cancers. The suite includes a separate waiting area, clinic, and prep and recovery areas for pediatric patients.
Miami Cancer Institute employs the newest form of proton therapy, pencil-beam scanning, which is considered the most precise and accurate way to deliver radiation to a tumor.
The proton therapy suite includes a cyclotron and three vaults, supportive physics spaces, clinics, and a dedicated entrance and drop off.
Within a year of opening Miami Cancer Institute, BHSF achieved its patient target of 870 unique patients a day and was selected as the third member of the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Alliance, an initiative designed to collaboratively guide community providers toward state-of-the-art cancer care. This dynamic and innovative relationship enhances the Institute’s clinical research capabilities and its delivery of the highest quality of evidence-based cancer care.
“Even in its infancy, Miami Cancer Institute has transformed cancer care in South Florida.”
Michael J. Zinner, M.D., Founding CEO and Executive Medical Director, Miami Cancer Institute
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Yawkey Center for Cancer Care
Health is More Than Just Healthcare
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, The Mortimer B. Zuckerman Research Center
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center
