Geisinger Health System

 

This 18,000 SF ambulatory care medical clinic is located on Main Street in Pittston. This new health care clinic respects the street and the scale of the urban fabric. A partial brick street façade provides a durable and permanent treatment that reinforces the scale and material of the context, while large glass elements at the lobby and main entry offer transparency into the interior’s public functions - similar to the transparency of historic retail storefronts that line the street.

The reawakening of Pittston, PA is a recent success story in Northeastern Pennsylvania. One of four incorporated cities in Luzerne County, it has been brought to a new vitality by a group of dedicated community activists who in the last 15 years have been visionary in their efforts to transform the community socially, environmentally, and urbanistically. Whether by adopting progressive ordinances addressing human rights and non-discrimination, the support of a flourishing restaurant and retail culture, or the promotion of the city as logistically friendly to new development, the City of Pittston has set an example for new regional aspirations and goals for NEPA. This clinic makes every effort to support the sensibility of the new within the old and the view of historic and traditional towns in NEPA as valued regional resources - a notion that has not always resonated.

The facility sits atop its own all-weather parking garage which is at a lower level accessed via a rear alley-street. There is also an existing surface parking lot at the side of the building that is necessary to provide off-street ambulance drop-off. Nevertheless, the building does re-establish 100 lineal feet of street façade, and in holding the street edge, it strengthens precedent. In offering a large lantern to the street at night, and a durable, well-clad and quietly modern presence during the day, this clinic brings the family doctor back to town.