Cancer Center Wins Design Award

SPRINGFIELD — The D’Amour Center for Cancer Care in Springfield has been recognized for its innovative, patient-friendly lighting with the highest honor, an Outstanding Achievement award for Lighting Design, in the First Annual Light and Architecture Design Awards presented by Architectural Lighting magazine.

The new awards program honors excellence in architectural lighting in eight project categories: corporate/institutional, entertainment/cultural, outdoor, retail, healthcare, hospitality, residential, and transportation.

This year’s 41 submissions came from all over the United States, Canada, and Mexico, and were submitted by top lighting designers, in addition to many architecture firms with a passion for lighting. Baystate Health System’s entry of the D’Amour Center for Cancer Care was submitted by Steffian Bradley Architects of Boston.

The projects were reviewed by a jury comprised of four industry professionals including Ken Douglas, principal of New Jersey-based Illumination Arts; Brian Stacy, associate and principal lighting designer in the New York City office of Arup Lighting; Matthew Tanteri, principal of Tanteri and Associates, also of new York; and Christina Trauthwein, former editor-in-chief of Architectural Lighting magazine and currently of Kitchen and Bath Business magazine. The projects were not judged against each other, but as superior examples of lighting in their category, and not every category had a winner, and not every category has both Outstanding and Commendable honorees.

Architectural and design elements incorporated into the interior atmosphere of the D’Amour Center for Cancer Care create a feeling of comfort and connection to nature. Expansive windows, skylights and translucent glass panels along the ceiling and floor allow sunlight to stream into the building, bringing with it the positive physical and psychology effects of natural light.

The D’Amour Center for Cancer Care, a three-story ambulatory cancer care center, is located at 3350 Main St. in Springfield. It provides 65,000 square feet of space that consolidates the services of the Baystate Regional Cancer Program conveniently under one roof. Designed with an abundance of skylights and windows, providing a warm and comfortable atmosphere bathed in natural light, the building has clinical exam areas, infusion therapy and radiation therapy facilities, and space for support services. The redesign of cancer services at Baystate is driven by a model of care that is truly patient-centered to maximize the benefits derived by people whose lives have been touched by cancer.

Steffian Bradley Associates Inc., the same architectural firm that designed Baystate’s 3300 Main Street and Chestnut Building, designed the world-class facility. GBH Macomber was the construction manager.