The final design of the 60,000-square-meter facility, to be located in Al-Ahsa, recently was unveiled by Malek Al Moosa, the CEO of Al Moosa Medical Group as part of the group’s greater mission to expand their reach across the Kingdom to address a need for specialized rehabilitation and long-term care hospitals in the region.

This new facility was designed within the virtual environment, employing virtual reality (VR) to design each major space as a means of design iteration, allowing for real-time feedback.

The new facility will be a rehabilitation and long-term care oasis in the region, including rehabilitation programs for sports injuries, bone injuries for adults and children, spinal injuries, and neural and brain injuries. The state-of-the-art facility was designed by HDR, who consistently ranks among the best in global hospital design and fifth among the top 100 international design companies. HDR brought together design and planning experts to create a master plan for the new facility for Al Moosa that reflects the highest level of international medical and architectural design. 

The rehabilitation and long-term care hospital will be located in Eastern Al Ahsa. It is designed as a micro village that embraces nature and the surrounding landscape. The master plan take its inspiration from the Al-Ahsa region’s natural landform of an oasis, while the building des­­­ign fosters healing through its connection to nature. The new facility will stand as the northern gateway to Al-Ahsa that will leave a lasting impression as a striking landmark.­

“The new project is aligned with the Saudi 2030 Vision for the future of healthcare and empowering the private sector. It will transform Al Ahsa city from an agricultural oasis into a thoughtful healing oasis, where patients and their families are truly in the center of our care,” said Al Moosa. “It will be the healthcare destination for patients from all over the Kingdom and the GCC region. Patients and their families will feel welcome, respected and comfortable to make this place their home away from home.”

 All spaces were designed to create the most positive experience for patients, with the least amount of anxiety and stress possible. Patients and visitors will arrive through a five-star hotel-style lobby with ample waiting areas flanked by retail outlets, including a pharmacy and dining, as well as a hanging garden and water features. The double-height volume and clear layout will allow visitors to navigate the facility intuitively. Patient rooms are designed to enhance the patient and visitor experience, allowing space for families and loved ones to visit and connect socially, and with views to the local steppe landscape.

“We are thrilled to be working with Al Moosa group to bring an answer to the increasing need for rehabilitation and long-term care services in Al Ahsa,” said Mohammed Ayoub, Vice President and Design Director at HDR. “The simple, yet elegant plan is based on an efficient model of world-class care, while it also embraces the local culture and values of the residents of the Kingdom.”

The new facility takes into great consideration reducing energy consumption and preserving the surrounding environment. Key features of the master plan 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.
• The gym and pool structure exhibits an expansive green roof.
• An enclosed garden within the lobby, supplemented by personalized gardens and rehabilitative green spaces at every inpatient floor of the bed tower, assures that everyone has access to nature, irrespective of mobility.
• A protective enclosure created by the seamless and continuous solar screen wraps both the taller inpatient bed tower, as well as the lower rehab gym and pool. Expressing the human instinct to care for our most vulnerable, the sinuous screen follows an undulating pattern and is designed to parametrically change from façade to façade to compensate for the solar heat gain of its specific location and function.
• On the inpatient tower, the screen opens up to the multi-level hanging gardens at the corners of each triangular floor plate.

The 24-bed unit is efficient and functional, setting the framework for a universal model of care and allowing the facility to flex and change to accommodate the way particular units function, evolve, expand and contract. This flexibility further represents the dynamic changes in health delivery taking place in the Kingdom.

The project team is slated to break ground on the project before the end of 2018. Its development will create more than 850 construction jobs, and, once complete, the building will employ at least 1,000 people.