Providence Alaska Medical Center

Providence Alaska Medical Center is the state's largest medical facility. The Anchorage campus is the largest of the Providence locations with:

380 patient beds
85,000 outpatients per year
55,000 to 60,000 emergency patients per year

The campus occupies 80 acres adjacent to the University of Alaska; the site has 5 different major vehicular entrances. It includes 2 medical office buildings, a 6-floor parking structure, and a variety of services, including on-campus overnight housing and RV hookups for long-term visitors.

Project Scope

The emergency addition, designed by the Zimmer Gunsel Frasca Partnership, is a $45-million expansion project that adds 100,000 square feet of space. As a result of this project, the routes to Emergency and the main hospital access points have changed. Since the hospital has provided care in Anchorage for nearly 100 years, the public has well-formed habits in their chosen paths to the care facilities, and the signage is now the most important guide to the new traffic pattern. The signage needed to be clear and precise, and it needed to compensate for a frequently very stressful environment.

Innerface was asked to consult on the project. Our task was to plan, design, and implement a functional wayfinding system. We needed to balance the functional needs of Providence Healthcare with the aesthetic concerns of ZGF Architects. We also needed to fabricate and install the project in time for the opening of their new Emergency Department, with associated target dates that allowed for a 5-day installation window from beginning to end. And finally, the signage had to accommodate the budget limitations of the construction project.

The parking garage, which is plainly visible from virtually any point on the campus, has remained half-empty for the entire 4 years it has been complete, even when ground level parking
was filled to capacity. The reason? The structure's upper levels are medical offices, and the signage did not identify the entry clearly enough to overcome initial confusion about the building's function.

Finally, any signage in Alaska needs to be designed to work through their long winter. This means that for half of the year, the signs need to function and be visible in nearly constant darkness. Location, size, and contrast are critical. The color scheme and appearance were chosen to reflect all available light, and still maintain aesthetic continuity with the design of the campus buildings.

The signs are installed, the emergency room is open, and new traffic patterns are in place and functional. Is it a success? All anecdotal evidence is positive, and the new signs are getting rave reviews by both staff and patients. In six months, a follow-up survey will be completed by Innerface to obtain accurate data regarding overall effectiveness. So it's still early to tell, but one thing has changed: there's been a substantial increase in parking structure usage.