UF Health North is a new medical facility opening on Feb. 17 on Jacksonville’s Northside.
The design of the building is very modern, more like a hotel than a hospital. Natural light filters inside through terrarium-like rock gardens, and there are outdoor terraces where patients and families can get fresh air while waiting.
"We're going away from the institutional white-washing to a very welcoming atmosphere," says Mike Marzoug, operations manager for the UF Health North project.
The six-story building houses state-of-the-art technology like an MRI machine with a flatbed design meant to reduce claustrophobia and radiology suites that have a light panel above the imaging station, which reflects soothing scenes.
The new complex is off Max Leggett Parkway.
The initial phase of the project includes a 28-bed emergency room, five operating rooms, two endoscopy suites, a catheterization laboratory and diagnostic imaging. A natural birthing center is opening in March.
The second phase, a 92-bed hospital tower that will be connected to the existing medical building through walkways, should break ground sometime later this year.
A ribbon-cutting grand opening is scheduled for Feb. 12.
