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Kettering Medical Center will open renovated lobby Aug. 30

Roy Chew, Ph.D., president of Kettering Medical Center, talks about the new two-story lobby that features a new gift shop, a bakery and a Creation Wall sculpture that highlights the seven days of Creation. Staff photo by Lisa Powell

Lisa Powell/Staff Roy Chew, Ph.D., president of Kettering Medical Center, talks about the new two-story lobby that features a new gift shop, a bakery and a Creation Wall sculpture that highlights the seven days of Creation. Staff photo by Lisa Powell

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By Ben Sutherly, Staff Writer Updated 10:05 PM Friday, August 27, 2010

KETTERING — Kettering Medical Center on Monday, Aug. 30, opens its new entrance, which will also double as the entry to the new Benjamin and Marian Schuster Heart Hospital, set to open Oct. 4.

The lobby, which has more of the feel of a hotel than of a hospital, is meant to send a psychological signal that visitors are entering a healing environment. It’s the first renovation to the hospital’s lobby since 1983.

Its design echoes that of the entrance to Sycamore Medical Center, and foreshadows the future interior design of other Kettering Health Network hospitals, including the redesigned Grandview Medical Center and the Soin Medical Center under construction in Beavercreek.

Defined by soothing earth shades of green, gold and copper, the lobby also features natural materials such as stone, and reflects careful use of lighting and acoustics beneath a two-story-high ceiling.

“The ceiling is the real tour de force when you walk into that building,” said Jain Malkin, the San Diego interior architect who designed the space. “It’s got wood, it’s got very interesting lighting, all kinds of things going on.”

Malkin met Kettering Health Network president Fred Manchur and his wife, Mary Kaye, during his tenure with a hospital system in California. They “became friends immediately,” she said.

Malkin collaborated on the project with Dayton architect Lorenz and Williams.

The new hospital entry’s canopy provides shelter during inclement weather for arriving and departing visitors, said Roy Chew, Ph.D., president of Kettering Medical Center.

The lobby will include tributes in crystal to Charles F. Kettering, the hospital’s namesake; and Dr. Benjamin Schuster and his late wife, Marian, highlighting Schuster’s contributions to the hospital’s heart program.

A Creation Wall illustrates in bronze the beginning of the world as described in the book of Genesis. Kettering Medical Center is a Seventh-day Adventist institution.

While Adventists have a literal reading of the Creation story, Chew said, “What’s nice about the story of Creation is anyone who comes here can relate to it, even if they think of it in mythological terms or other spiritual terms. ... It’s got a pretty broad application.”

The lobby also houses an outpatient pharmacy, expanded gift shop and bakery.

The Schuster project’s total cost is $77 million, including $59 million for the building and $18 million for equipment. Kettering officials said they were unable to break out the cost of the main lobby and entrance.

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-7457 or bsutherly@DaytonDailyNews.com.

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