Devoting more than a century to patient care, as well as to innovative research, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK) has made significant contributions to new and improved therapies for cancer treatment.

This regional ambulatory care facility features comprehensive adult oncology services including surgical, medical and radiation oncology consultations, chemotherapy and radiation therapy, diagnostic radiology, access to clinical trials, and other specialized services such as genetic counseling, pain management support, lymphedema therapy, survivorship services, social work, and nutrition counseling.

The overarching goal for the facility design is the reduction of stress via the provision of a welcoming, non-institutional environment. The design references to the notion of “home” through a number of strategies, including:
• A breakdown of building scale
• A front garden
• A warm color palette including natural looking (yet hard wearing) materials
• Utilization of furniture, fabrics and lighting that are residential in style

To allow for patient choice and distraction, each room recalls an iconic space within the home; foyer, living room, attic, dining room, game room, library, conservatory, veranda and backyard.
The game room embraces bold fabric colors, wood flooring and paneling, playful antler chandeliers, playing card wallcovering, game tables and a delightful foosball table. The veranda welcomes daylighting through large exterior windows and luminous mesh ceiling recalling exterior fabric canopies backlit to simulate dappled lighting. The library utilizes live edge wood creating oversized magazine displays while a shared table provides opportunities for work or distraction through games and adult coloring books within the drawers.

By turning inward to create an internal “backyard”, medical treatment zones with special attention to Infusion, respond to the surrounding expanse of parking and suburban retail.
Daylight streams in through skylights, textured wood panels reference exterior backyard walls, and communal seating and picnic areas provide opportunity for interaction outside of private infusion rooms. Staff stations evoke garden rocks and are located to allow easy observation of patients.