Winter 2020

Advanced technology and a design that puts well-being first come together in the new Stanford Hospital 

The future is not what it used to be,” George Tingwald, MD, was fond of saying while the new Stanford Hospital was under construction.

“You future-proof a building by trying to understand how to create the most flexible framework to allow for change, even though you may not know what that change is,” explained Tingwald, Stanford’s administrative director of medical planning as well as an architect and a surgeon.

The hospital, which opened its doors Nov. 17, was a decadelong, $2 billion project sparked by seismic safety requirements and a ballooning San Francisco Bay Area population. It was constructed to withstand an 8.0-magnitude earthquake and can triple its patient capacity in a disaster.

“We truly are Palo Alto’s community hospital,” said David Entwistle, president and CEO of Stanford Health Care. “I’m deeply grateful to everyone who believed in the vision for this facility and worked so hard over the past decade to make it a reality.”