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St. Francis Medical Center in Chesterfield County, Va.
St. Francis Medical Center is a 45-acre medical campus in Chesterfield County, a suburb of Richmond, Virginia. The center is part of the catholic health system Bon Secours (literally ?EUR??,,????'?????<
The design team focus was creating a healing environment throughout the campus. One of the first concerns was parking. For a hospital of this size the required parking is substantial. A long walk through a parking lot was not the first impression the client wanted for visitors.
The landscape architecture and land-planning firm of Higgins & Gerstenmaier, Richmond, Va., proposed a site plan that organizes parking around a boulevard that leads to the entrance courtyard. The parking lots are a series of smaller lots on both sides of the boulevard that minimize the distance walked on the asphalt. Once on the boulevard there is pedestrian-scale lighting, a wide sidewalk and landscaping leading to the entrance courtyard.
The entrance courtyard is bordered on two sides by the hospital and medical office building and on the other two sides by a pergola and 95-foot tall campanile (bell tower) modeled after one in Assisi, Italy, home of the hospital?EUR??,,????'?????<
Water is a central element in any healing environment. The fountain leads people into the entrance garden. Here, fountain jets rise out of the pavement and draws one to the lobby entrance. The jets ?EUR??,,????'?????<
The chapel has its own garden, which is 16 feet below the level of the adjacent parking lot. Long pergolas define both sides of this garden and help make the space more intimate. A reflecting pool and rill made of granite provides the soothing sounds of water at one end, while a cast stone garden temple serves as a focal point at the other end. The plant palette is a mix of evergreen and deciduous shrubs and herbaceous perennials that provide year round interest.
The infant and toddler playground is sited on the east side of the hospital building to offer better sun protection for the children on hot afternoons. The playground surfacing is artificial turf. There is only one ?EUR??,,????'?????<
Code requires a fire lane visible from the cafeteria and more than half the patient rooms. Higgins & Gerstenmaier proposed heavy-duty brick pavers in place of the typical asphalt or concrete for the fire lane. The hospital?EUR??,,????'?????<
At the Cancer Institute, the healing gardens are integral to the design of the building. The signature garden is located outside the infusion suite. Full-length glass affords patients a pleasant view during the long hours of treatment. A natural stonewall with waterfall is the focal point and also screens the view of an adjacent road. This garden is designed to allow family members and friends who accompany patients a place to go that is away from the clinical environment. One notable specification was the mulch. The odor of shredded wood mulch can be sickening to some patients, so stone mulch was substituted.
The entrance to the building includes a small garden for patients, visitors, and staff and is focused around a small fountain. After treatment, cancer patients can be very weak. The landscape architects wanted to create a comfortable space for these patients as they wait to be driven home. The teak benches, fountain and landscaping make the space a comfortable respite. The third garden is outside the chapel. Use of floor to ceiling windows expands the space and provides a focal point.
Sited on a hillside adjacent to the Cancer Institute, the Family Practice and Child Care Center takes advantage of the terrain by separating the entrances for the child care center and the medical offices to opposite sides and different levels. The entrance to the childcare center is an outdoor classroom with low seat walls, colored concrete paving and a granite kugel fountain with a world map. The challenge for the childcare center was to create playground space for the infants and toddlers separate from the preschool children on a site with significant topography. The infant and toddler playground is sited on the east side of the building and is protected from the hot late afternoon sun. The preschool playground needed to withstand the physicality of the kids?EUR??,,????'?????<
About the Firm Higgins & Gerstenmaier, PLC is a landscape architecture and land-planning firm in Richmond, Va., founded in 2000 from Higgins Associates and Gerstenmaier Design Studio. The principal in charge for the St. Francis Medical Center project was Dave Gerstenmaier; Keith Van Inwegen was the senior project manager.
Project Team
Hardscape Materials
Francisco Uviña, University of New Mexico
Hardscape Oasis in Litchfield Park
Ash Nochian, Ph.D. Landscape Architect
November 12th, 2025
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