Sycuan Health Center
Located on the reservation of The Sycuan Band of the Kumeyaay Nation, approximately twenty miles east of San Diego, the new Sycuan Health Center replaces an aging medical facility and expands the Tribe’s capacity to serve its community. The new center provides a wide range of medical, dental, social, and behavioral health services in a welcoming, light-filled environment.
The two-story building’s linear form features two wings aligned with the surrounding valley and nearby river. A central entrance atrium anchors the building and utilizes double-height spaces and glass facades to maximize openness and natural light, create transparency, and frame views toward the rising hills beyond the site. At the east end of the lobby, a floating stair ascends to a mezzanine level, while a private patio just outside the lobby’s glass doors provides patients with fresh air and immersion in the surrounding scenery.
Five clinical departments, along with a pharmacy and administrative spaces, extend from and are connected by the central lobby, which serves as the organizational and social heart of the facility. The program supports a full array of medical and dental services, including exam and procedure rooms, laboratories, operatories and sterilization areas, radiology, pharmacy, and chiropractic care.
The project’s landscaping reinforces its connection to place through native, drought-tolerant vegetation that is culturally significant to the Sycuan Band of the Kumeyaay Nation and the Tribe’s traditional medicinal practices.
- Client: Sycuan Band of the Kumeyaay Nation
- Completion: 2025
- Size: 25,000 SF
