The University of California - San Francisco (UCSF) is officially welcoming the new Precision Cancer Medicine Building (PCMB), a facility that will serve as the heart of outpatient cancer care in Mission Bay. The state-of-the-art facility opens as the latest addition to the UCSF Mission Bay medical campus, which currently includes UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital San Francisco, UCSF Betty Irene Moore Women’s Hospital, and UCSF Bakar Cancer Hospital. Global design firm Stantec provided design, programming and served as the integrated design delivery partner for the project. Rudolf & Sletten served as the general contractor.

PCMB strives to deliver a new generation of precision medicine, tailoring individual care based on a detailed understanding of each person’s genetic or molecular information – the “signatures” of each tumor that makes it unique. Precision medicine is designed to offer novel approaches and personalized treatment to patients. The building brings together top researchers, oncologists, surgeons, and other clinicians to foster new treatments and speed their delivery to patients.

The 170,000-square foot cancer hospital contains 120 rooms for exams and consultations, 47 infusion bays for chemotherapy, and 19 types of imaging services. The facility also includes 20 consultation rooms for supportive programs, such as genetic counseling, nutrition and dietary consultations, social work, psycho-oncology, complementary medicine, and symptom management. PCMB will feature a patient resource center with rooms for support groups, exercise classes, physical therapy, financial counseling, and yoga.

The facility layout is driven by four key design principles— Precision, Transparency, Integration, and Activation, which Stantec wove throughout the interior and exterior of the building:

• Precision: A fusion of precision and warmth through the combination of glass and metal in a fluid coupling. Windows and walls create angles that guide the eye, offering an intuitive sense of how the building operates.
• Transparency: Patients and passersby can see in and out of PCMB, demystifying the building and humanizing cancer treatment.
• Integration: The building design strives to unify the patient experience. PCMB completes the sequence of movement across Mission Bay clinical areas and offers ease of access for those arriving on public transit.
• Activation:  The building is visually accessible to the surrounding community allowing an understanding of the care provided within. The design includes subtle, angling walls that create a more generous public domain, with an overhang to provide shelter at some entrances.

“From screening and counseling, to communication and education, through targeted treatments, it is the entire journey that makes up a patient’s personalized experience with cancer,” said Rory Picklyk, vice president in Stantec’s Buildings practice. “PCMB is the physical culmination and reflection of that journey, and we are proud to have led its design. This is a building set to redefine precise cancer care—not only for San Francisco residents—but nationally, and we are humbled to play a part in bringing it to life.”

Once fully open in fall 2019, PCMB will serve approximately 700 patients daily.