December 9, 2020

Lummi Nation project to get underway in 2021

Rendering provided by KMD [enlarge]

The west entry to the Lummi Nation Health Care and Dental Facility has an indoor-outdoor fireplace and seating.

Construction will begin in spring of next year on the 50,000-square-foot Lummi Nation Health Care and Dental Facility at 2616 Kwina Road in Bellingham.

KMD is the architect for the $27 million project, which will serve over 5,000 members of the Lummi Nation Tribe in northwestern Washington.

Bidding is expected in January 2021, and the goal is to open the facility in spring 2022, KMD said in press materials.

KMD designed the project to incorporate the tribal tradition of treating the whole person. Besides the medical and dental clinics, it will include a pharmacy, imaging and a child care center, a behavioral health clinic, a demonstration kitchen, community facilities with meeting rooms and a teaching garden with medicinal and edible plants.

The central lobby is loosely based on a traditional longhouse with its linear configuration, deep overhangs, large timber columns at the entries and main entrance facing the east rather than the road to the south.

The lobby is oversized to allow it to be used for large-scale community events — a space the community currently lacks. It will have a cafe, indoor-outdoor fireplace, spaces to tell the history of the Lummi Nation and a community culture room where members can practice traditional tribal arts.

The Lummi Nation is developing the project and will own it together with the Lummi Indian Business Council. The new facility is part of The Lummi Nation's long-term master plan for the tribe's Wellness Campus, which already consists of the existing clinic building (which will be repurposed), a fitness center and care center that treats substance use. Future plans include a detox facility, expansion of the fitness center and housing.

The KMD design team was completing construction documents when the Covid-19 pandemic struck in late February. Looking to the future, the tribe asked KMD to redesign portions of the new medical and dental clinics to include a flexible HVAC system which could switch to a negative pressure environment should another pandemic like Covid-19 occur in the future. Switching to a negative pressure environment will allow infectious patients to be treated while protecting staff and non-infectious patients.

Sustainable features will include a green wall, rooftop photovoltaic panels, and a floor runnel that demonstrates the journey of water. The water flowing through the glass covered runnel will feed a water feature in an outdoor seating area before filling a cistern where it is stored for irrigation of the teaching garden.

The team includes Native American-owned Akana, as civil/site engineer, structural engineer and landscape architect; Sazan Group, for MEP, energy modeling, commissioning and sustainability; and Swinerton, construction and cost estimation.

CollinsWoerman did an early concept for the project before KMD was hired.