Gainesville, GA
Northeast Georgia Health System, Gainesville Tower and ED Expansion
Healthcare
|
Tower
Owner Northeast Georgia Health System
Architect Perkins+Will
Expertise
MEP Engineering,
Lighting Design
Completion Date 2025
Size 600,000sf
Challenge
Northeast Georgia Health System (NGHS) set out to expand Northeast Georgia Medical Center (NGMC) Gainesville with a landmark new patient tower that would consolidate emergency services, cardiac care, surgical facilities, and intensive care into a single, state-of-the-art facility — while also establishing one of Georgia’s few Level I Trauma Centers. The expansion spanned an 11-floor building including a basement, parking garage, emergency department, food services, CVICU, and inpatient floors, along with shelled, electrical, IT, and mechanical spaces — approximately 600,000sf of designed space. The challenge was to develop a lighting strategy tailored to the clinical complexity of each environment while establishing system-wide standards the health system could rely on for future projects across its growing campus network.
Solution
Mazzetti Lighting Design Studio provided services spanning an initial site visit, Design Development and Construction Document lighting layouts, design reviews throughout all phases, and limited Construction Administration. Lighting Standards were developed simultaneously as part of the design process to serve as a long-term reference tool for the health system.
Mazzetti’s lighting design addressed a comprehensive range of space types throughout the tower, which upon opening included:
- Emergency Department (ground floor) — with dedicated zones for trauma, resuscitation, minor care, behavioral health, and pediatrics — as well as a rooftop helipad with dedicated elevator access to the ED, operating rooms, and cardiac catheterization labs
- Georgia Heart Institute spaces (first floor) — including cardiac testing areas, catheterization labs, and endovascular operating rooms, plus a new café with large windows designed to maximize natural light
- Surgical and critical care floors — five new operating rooms and the Ronnie Green Cardiovascular Intensive Care Unit (second floor); coronary care and cardiovascular intermediate care units (fourth floor); and the Woody Stewart Heart Failure Treatment Unit (fifth floor)
- Inpatient floors — the tower opened with 96 inpatient beds, with floors six through nine designed as shell space for future buildout to more than 190 beds
Mazzetti’s lighting design goals included carefully integrating electric lighting and control systems with daylight, architecture, and interiors; creating systems that are visually comfortable while supporting the wide range of tasks occurring in a healthcare environment; and presenting human-centric options promoting the health and well-being of patients and staff, including improving patient sleep and recovery.Mazzetti also designed systems utilizing current technology to be flexible, affordable, adaptable, energy efficient, and easy to maintain, and offered innovative low-voltage, network-capable solutions to support asset tracking, wayfinding, and RTLS capabilities for the owner.
The Lighting Standards deliverable was developed to address hospital and medical office buildings (new construction and renovation), exterior lighting, and parking — covering technical criteria including CRI, CCT, IES TM-30, efficacy, circadian lighting, luminaire types, approved manufacturers, long-term maintenance, lighting controls (wired and wireless), IES RP-29 recommendations for hospitals and healthcare facilities, low-voltage and asset tracking technology, and disinfection lighting.
The Green Tower was also intentionally designed as a healing environment, with 19 regional artists commissioned for original works displayed throughout the first five floors — an integration of art, nature, and light reflective of the surrounding northeast Georgia region.
Outcome
Mazzetti’s work encompassed lighting design for the expansion, including the development of lighting standards for the healthcare system — providing NGHS with a reusable, system-wide reference to guide future projects across its campus network. The project has been recognized with a 2025 Interior Design Best of Year Award, affirming the quality of the design environment Mazzetti’s lighting contributed to.
