KMD's CHA Hospital, Korea Wins 2008 AIA National Health...( SAN FRANCISCO July 28 /- The inno...),Health

SAN FRANCISCO, July 28 /PRNewswire/ -- The innovative CHA Women's and Children's Hospital in Seoul, Korea, has been selected as one of only four projects worldwide to win the 2008, prestigious American Institute of Architects (AIA) National Healthcare Design Award. It is one of the more than 15 projects undertaken in Korea by KMD Architects, with offices in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Portland, Seattle and Mexico City. The design for CHA Hospital coupled with this esteemed award furthers KMD's position as a trend-setting and futurist international design firm creating innovations in healthcare on the global scale since its inception in 1963.

(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20080728/AQM536)

The new hospital is among the first in Korea to offer a full array of advances such as combined labor/delivery rooms and water birthing, which invite the participation of the family in the birthing process. To meet Korean expectations, one entire floor of the hospital is given over to an extended stay spa, wherein women may remain up to one month after giving birth. Other aspects for women's healthcare and maternity services offered by the CHA Health System range from in-vitro fertilization to stem cell research.

The new hospital brings to a dense, suburban Seoul neighborhood a gleaming, modernist building attractive to Korea's younger women, and offers patient care in an environment often reserved for high-couture shops, spas, hair salons and trendy restaurants. The design celebrates high technology but also incorporates elements from traditional Korean architecture such as wood, plants, organic forms and water features, within and outside the building on decks and terraces.

In keeping with KMD's concept of "Triple Green Design," which promotes energy conservation but also aims at enhancing human health and performance on the part of the staff and patient
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