Located at the Jerry L. Pettis Memorial VA Medical Center Campus, the one-story, 8,000 square foot building is situated northeast of the existing hospital building. The new building entrance will provide a recognizable, formal entry, which will make efficient use of existing patient circulation, largely from the parking areas to the north and east. The construction forms a main entry that poses a welcoming transition from the landscaped outdoors to the efficient interior spaces, and creates a landmark for patients to identify the building entry.

"We're excited to move into the construction phase of this project and see our designs come to life," said Tim Rubesh, principal at KMA Architecture & Engineering. "Our designs blended the project's exterior appearance with the existing hospital campus, while scaling down certain recognizable visual elements and adding subtle color-scheme differences. The new clinic will blend in nicely, while still having its own modern look and feel."

The interior design plan is uncomplicated and efficient for staff circulation, which provides a functional and cost-effective layout to work with a future second story addition. Spaces within the clinic accommodate audiology operations, as well as public and support spaces for common-use convenience. Diagnostic and treatment rooms are sized and configured in accordance with collected demographic data. In addition, carefully-placed exterior windows enhance the healing environment experience by creating small vistas for the patients from the interior to the soothing landscaping outdoors. Berms, swales and sidewalks within the new building area are also in the works to be reconfigured.

The KMA project team includes Tim Rubesh and Alison Warren. Structural and civil engineering services are provided by Burkett & Wong; electrical engineering services are provided by Elen Consulting; mechanical engineering services are provided by DSE Engineering, Inc.; landscape architecture services are provided by Cresere Design; interior design services are provided by Young & Company; and the general contractor is Tee Hee/Straub Construction Joint Venture.