This 7500 S.F. health and wellness center in Boaco, Nicaragua, was created to provide a prototype clinic that could test innovative ideas in healthcare access for women and children, in an effort to reduce the infant and maternal mortality rate for this underserved rural population.
The clinic design team are proponents of Evidence Based Design (EBD) research, and this project was a study in how the design of the built environment affects health outcomes. Believing that health begins from the ground-up, the nonprofit developer Clínica Verde wanted to start with a building that conserves resources and celebrates the human spirit.
Designed to take advantage of natural day lighting, passive cooling, water conservation, and solar electric energy, the floor plan of the building and site plan are laid out with areas that enhance “socially sustainable” functions as well as those inherently required for clinic operational efficiency.
Clínica Verde promotes educational programs for women in the areas of family planning, prenatal health, infant care, cervical cancer prevention and nutrition. Since the clinic opened in January of 2012, the medical staff have seen over 40,000 patients. As they have grown, Clínica Verde has added an organic bio-intensive garden which serves as a teaching tool for women, family members and the community to learn about growing and cultivating produce. The commercially designed demonstration kitchen provides space for teaching healthy ways of preparing food that can help prevent many simple nutritional issues for children.
As a global prototype of a sustainably designed health care facility, Clínica Verde is building up a promising future. The clinic is improving health outcomes by providing clinical care and education in a facility that truly cares for and serves the community.
Client: Clínica Verde
Location: Boaco, Nicaragua
Type: Health and Wellness
