Planning the Gamma Knife Unit: The Gamma Knife Center of the Carolinas

Many hospitals are considering a gamma knife center as an addition to their existing nuclear medicine programs. With this addition come many interrelationships and programmatic requirements that must be addressed. Hospital infrastructure, potential campus sites, intradepartmental relationships, and increased patient stress all play an important role in locating these new centers and developing the programs for the center's design. All these factors were addressed in developing South Carolina's only gamma knife center.

The Gamma Knife Center of the Carolinas successfully integrates into the existing campus while maintaining critical spatial relationships. The facility brings together the need for a high-tech medical environment with the patient's need for a warm, safe treatment experience through a well-developed space plan and the center's proximity to necessary support spaces. Through careful programming and the need to create a patient-friendly environment, innovative solutions were achieved to bring daylight into the unit and provide an efficient facility for both staff and patients alike.

The Academy Journal is published by the AIA Academy of Architecture for Health (AAH). The Journal is the official publication of the AAH and explores subjects of interest to AIA-AAH members and to others involved in the fields of healthcare architecture, planning, design and construction.