St. Mary’s Medical Center
Duluth, MN
Located on the bluffs above the western shore of Lake Superior, Essentia Health’s new flagship hospital streamlines medical services, invigorates downtown Duluth with engaging public amenities, and redefines the continuum of care for patients throughout the region.
The new St. Mary’s Medical Center represents a monumental investment in the region. The lake-side hospital redefines what patients have come to expect from their healthcare providers and challenges contemporary healthcare design strategies with bold, innovative, and sustainable solutions. It consolidates Essentia Health’s facilities and improves efficiency throughout Essentia’s healthcare delivery model. Additionally, the new facility creates a nexus for downtown recreation and economic revitalization.
Essentia Health and the design team at EwingCole envisioned a hospital environment that is comfortable, welcoming, and efficient for patients, visitors, and staff. Public areas feature the engaging warmth of hospitality spaces, incorporating natural materials and themes that evoke a sense of healing and nature. Its patient-centric design drives impactful patient outcomes by consolidating adaptable inpatient rooms, procedure rooms, OR platforms, and flexibly planned outpatient spaces.
Aesthetically, St. Mary’s Medical Center is designed for and of Duluth. The lower levels of its exterior façade resemble the brownstone homes and businesses along downtown Superior Street. In contrast, the glass façade of the upper levels and patient tower take their cues from the surface of the neighboring lake. Duluth’s residents cherish the outdoors. Knowing this, Essentia Health administrators and EwingCole created an interior setting that celebrates that connection to the outdoors. Visitors experience a vertical living museum throughout the building’s interior, which tells the story of Duluth’s people, history, and natural splendor. Patients and visitors may also access the Roof Garden, which overlooks Lake Superior.
Key Guiding Principles
- Deliver a safe, patient-centric design
- Design a high-efficiency, environmentally sustainable facility
- Maximize flexibility in both staff workstations and acuity adaptable rooms
- Minimize patient transfers and hand-offs
- Create a welcoming, healing, and professional facility
“I have the deepest gratitude for my colleagues who helped to design this space, for the construction workers who made this a reality, and for the community for their support during the construction. St. Mary’s Medical Center, and those who serve within its walls, will continue to provide great care for generations to come.”
— Essentia Health CEO, Dr. David Herman
The Site: The Tower, Podium, and the Lake
The primary glass façade is patterned with a soft wave-like ceramic screen that recalls the silky quality of the water surface and its frequent rolling fog. The lower podium and brick façade mirror the surrounding neighborhood. The glass envelope not only creates exterior aesthetic appeal but also provides stunning views from within the bed tower, limits solar glare, and creates a distinct identity for the structure. However, the screen plays a key environmental role in protecting the building from summer solar heat gain, thereby minimizing long-term cooling costs.
Form & Function
Its narrow, aerodynamic form is designed to eliminate wind turbulence around entrances and rest areas, minimize its impact on views to and from the lake, and limit its effects on bird migration and solar heat gain. St. Mary’s Medical Center’s pill-shaped design mitigates the impacts of harsh weather conditions through strenuous wind tunnel testing of more than a dozen building form iterations.
Early energy modeling and wind studies dictated the buildings structure and form, designed to withstand the harsh weather conditions of the Great Lake Lakes, and reduce solar heat gain while maximizing view of the lake.
The Winter Garden
Anchoring the corner of 2nd Street and 4th Avenue, the winter garden offers a light-filled, hotel-like experience throughout the year. In warmer months, the plaza serves as a relaxing corner retreat.
The winter garden is a soaring main lobby that anchors the West Link, main corridor off of the inpatient entrance and registration area. The hallmark of the design is the support structures at the center, adorned with swooping wood-look trellises; abstract design elements which take their queues from native American construction
Celebrating Duluth: Life, Healing, & the Environment Within
Aesthetically, St. Mary’s Medical Center is designed for and of Duluth. Duluth’s residents cherish the outdoors. Knowing this, Essentia Health administrators and EwingCole created an interior setting that celebrates that connection to the outdoors. Visitors experience a vertical living museum throughout the building’s interior, which tells the story of Duluth’s people, history, and natural splendor. Patients and visitors may also access the Roof Garden, which overlooks Lake Superior. Design themes reflect the local landscape with regional imagery and color-coded floor identities. Each floor celebrates different local environments, supported by educational map narratives and natural graphics.
The West Link
The West Link is the main corridor on the sixth floor of the hospital, stretching the length of two football fields from Superior Street to 2nd Street, connecting visitors to both the inpatient and outpatient sections of the building. It offers views of the city and lake, and houses key amenities such as a pharmacy, chapel, and conference center.
Dining Commons & Ojibwa Recognition
The dining commons caps the West Link at the celebrates Native American heritage through curated art, privacy screens, murals, and ceiling elements shaped like canoes that evoke the waves of Lake Superior. Warm wood textures and seating zones echo Ojibwa history and connection to nature.
The Patient Tower
The patient tower consists of nine floors of private inpatient rooms with stunning views of the Duluth hillside and/or Lake Superior. Each floor has its own aesthetic theme, which helps orient patients, their families, and staff, and provides a de-institutionalized, calming atmosphere.
- Inpatient Rooms: Designed with hospitality in mind—natural materials, calming imagery, and views.
- Mother & Baby: Spa-like environments with gentle palettes and imagery.
- NICU Family Lounge: Fireplace, fish tank, and landscape imagery create a home-like environment.
- Pediatric Spaces: Playful, colorful, and engaging for children, yet integrated with the hospital’s overall design aesthetic.
- Child Life Area: Zones designed for different age groups, including reading nooks and play areas.
The Roof Garden
Serving as both a patch of green in the urban landscape and a means of absorbing stormwater, the roof garden is a serene place for downtown office workers, hospital personnel, patients, and visitors to relax and enjoy the view. The Lighthouse Lounge provides a relaxing space for views of the lake from above year-round. The roof garden is currently the highest, outdoor space in the City of Duluth.
Meet the Design Team
