Supporting Inclusivity in Community Health
The Max Robinson Center is a four-story health care and research facility for Whitman-Walker in Saint Elizabeths East. Its design takes inspiration from Whitman-Walker’s 50-year commitment to relieving persistent health disparities and service delivery inequities in Washington, DC, reflected in their motto, “We See You.” To the LGBTQ+, minority, and at-risk patients who receive lifesaving care and support services there, Whitman-Walker Health is a safe place of acceptance. The Max Robinson Center creates flexible spaces that provide ease, security, and dignity for practitioners, staff, and patients. Service offerings include: dental health, youth and family support, HIV care, gender affirming care, legal services, behavioral health counseling, and insurance navigation. On-site lab facilities create an opportunity for continued investment in vital biomedical and applied research in HIV treatment and prevention.

Close-Kint Care for a Colorful Community
Whitman-Walker Health sought to celebrate the soul, grit, and promise of Southeast Washington, DC through the design of the Max Robinson Center. One of the conceptual ideas behind the plan was to use components of a community as an organizing element in the design. Staff and patient spaces were considered as familiar neighborhood landmarks such as the market, the block, and the park.
Environmental graphic design throughout the building further reinforces cultural identity through photo murals, local “hero” graphics, and a variety of imagery, traditional patterns, and artifacts curated by Whitman-Walker’s community advisory council. The three stacked waiting rooms feature unique graphics of the Center’s namesake, Max Robinson, who was the first African-American broadcast network news anchor in the country.

Resilience
The Max Robinson Center nearly doubles Whitman-Walker’s reach, allowing them to serve more than 20,000 patients annually. The Center is laid out in a modular grid of medical units, or pods, where rooms and spaces can shift in the future. This model creates a flexible and adaptable approach to healthcare, allowing for expansion as needs change. In the vein of resilience, the Center also includes negative pressure rooms as well storage space for supplies for short-term shelter-in-place and emergency preparedness kits.

Well-Being
Because a significant percentage of Whitman-Walker Health’s patient base lives with compromised immune systems, it was of the utmost importance for the Design Team to identify strategies to provide a facility that fosters health and well-being for both WWH patients and staff. Some of these strategies included optimizing indoor air quality, selecting healthy materials, incorporating physical activity, providing access to daylight and nature, as well as promoting healthy eating and education.