DESCRIPTION: The El Centro Medical office building is a new 2 story 44,137 GSF state-of-the-art medical facility located on 4.97 acres of land. The facility was constructed for a single tenant: Clinicas de Salud del Pueblo, a health-care provider long established in the Imperial Valley. The building shell is of two-story, concrete tilt-up construction, with an internal steel frame and concrete and steel composite floors. Window openings are carefully sized to provide ample daylighting while minimizing unnecessary solar gain. For example, the west façade has a smaller percentage of glazing than does the north façade. The ground floor to second floor height is 15’-0”, and the second floor to roof height is 13’-6”. It is anticipated that tenant space ceiling height will be a minimum of nine feet. High efficiency rooftop package units provide for heating and cooling needs.
The architectural expression of the building is intended to reflect the areas desert setting and agricultural history. Custom patterning of the concrete wall panels evokes the land division of fields and parcels. The panels are painted in shades drawn from the surrounding desert landscapes. On the freeway side of the building, two distinctive window bays catch the eye from both east and west approaches. A large glazed area on the south side, facing the auto entry and the bulk of the parking, creates a welcoming entry. The varied patterning of the window openings creates a lively rhythm in addition to strategically limiting heat gain.
