Urbahn designed this 120-bed residential nursing facility to meet the Bronx VAMC Hospital’s desire for an alternative to the inpatient hospital at the campus core. The facility connects an existing historic chapel and recreation building and has access to the main hospital via an underground passageway. Urbahn employed brick cladding to emphasize the building’s human scale while providing continuity of color and texture. The first floor houses the main entrance lobby, a 60-bed residential unit, as well as dining and recreation rooms. The second floor provides an additional 60 beds, a gero-psychiatric unit, physical and occupational therapy rooms, and administrative offices. The building’s design creates a private outdoor courtyard bordered by the chapel. The courtyard contains seating areas, game tables, shuffleboard courts, tree-shaded areas, and patient-maintained gardens.
