By Healthcare Facilities Today

The 2013 Healthcare Environment Awards, co-sponsored by Contract magazine, in association with The Center for Health Design, Healthcare Design 2013, and the Vendome Group. Each year, projects are recognized in acute care, ambulatory care, health and fitness, conceptual and student design categories.

The Olivia Newton John Cancer & Wellness Centre won an honorable mention in the acute care category. The Centre is a new eight-story facility built adjoining the Austin Hospital in Victoria, Australia. The facility accommodates both cancer treatment and research while maintaining a comprehensive focus on wellness, according to an article in Contact magazine. 

The jury was impressed with its integration, commenting that in “a tight urban site with only so much property, [the design team] was able to capture outdoor space and natural light,” the article said.

Many of the facility's waiting areas are small and intimate. Because cancer treatment is often an ongoing process, the oncology treatment spaces are designed so that patients can choose between private and more social areas in which to receive their treatment, according to the article.

Read the article and view images of the facility.