Steadman Philippon Medical Building

Site and aesthetic

A balance of elegance and ruggedness

Situated in the bustling heart of Willits Town Center in Basalt, the building sits on a sprawling lot with a connected park, anchoring the indoor and outdoor connection so central to mountain life. A sweeping glazed corner entrance, framed in brick and stone, welcomes patients in from the town's main thoroughfare, while slatted metal sunshades cast filtered shadows across the facade that shift throughout the day. Early on, the client identified that they wanted the building to be sophisticated and elegant, yet welcoming to all, a balance that became one of the project's defining design challenges.

Inside, an expansive Telluride Stone wall sweeps from the exterior straight through to the lobby fireplace, blurring the line between mountain and medicine. Textural stone, steel accents, and distressed barn wood ground the abundantly glazed lobby, while dark stone accents nod to Basalt's namesake rock formations. Windows appear everywhere the eye can follow them, into surgery recovery, the 3T MRI suite, the casting room.

Design for healing

A path through recovery

That same care extends to how the building moves people through their healing. The first floor houses parking, an entry lounge, a community market, and the MRI suite; the second is devoted to a four-OR surgery center, procedure room, nine pre-op and eleven recovery bays, three private recovery rooms, and a sterile processing unit; the third is shared by The Steadman Clinic, the SPRI Regenerative Medicine Lab, and Howard Head Sports Medicine's therapy gym. A patient can leave surgery on the second floor and travel, by a private back elevator, straight to rehabilitation at Howard Head one floor up, never doubling back through the main lobby, never losing momentum in their recovery.

Built for the mountains

Resourceful by necessity

The center's high-altitude location demanded resourceful design. Operating rooms are lined entirely in stainless steel (easier to keep clean, easier to modify as equipment needs change) and the surgery center carries enough power and supplies to keep functioning independently for days if mountain roads become impassable. A high water table limited on-site parking to a single level below grade, so the team worked closely with a land planner to meet the town's requirements, while a third-party reviewer helped expedite permitting for a project of this scale and complexity. The general contractor's familiarity with mountain construction shaped a schedule built around Colorado winters, with extra materials stockpiled in advance so the project could proceed even when weather closed Vail Pass or Glenwood Canyon.

People first

Supporting those who care

Staff experience mattered just as much as patient experience: a window-lined lounge, a market for quick refreshment, and bike storage and showers in the basement all support the people who spend their days caring for others. To meet Basalt's Sustainable Building Regulations, BA's sustainability director partnered with the town's sustainability office to deliver an 18.5 kW rooftop photovoltaic system, EV charging stations, and space reserved for future e-bike charging.

Community and purpose

More than a medical building

Outside, the adjacent park does more than complete the site; it turns a medical building into a town landmark. Art throughout the building and the park was sourced from photographers and painters local to the Roaring Fork Valley, honoring the landscape and the outdoor life the region is known for. Neighbors bike, play, and gather within sight of the very facility that will care for them if they're hurt.

The result is a building built for its purpose: not just to treat injury, but to return people, Olympians and locals alike, to the mountains, trails, and lives they came here to live.