Alamo Navajo Health Center

Bodwé Seven Generations Architecture + Engineering provided a site analysis, schematic design, and RFP bridging documents for a new 64,000-square-foot healthcare facility spread over 41 acres on the Alamo Navajo Indian Reservation.

The Alamo Navajo Health Center will be a modern, technologically-advanced healthcare facility that will offer expanded outpatient and community health departments and a full array of ancillary and support services. The north wing will contain clinical programs such as wellness, diabetes, and community health spaces.

The south wing will contain the main clinical areas on the first floor, including a laboratory, diagnostic imaging, primary care, behavioral health and emergency medical services, and a pharmacy featuring a drive-thru. The south wing’s second level will feature the dental clinic, mechanical rooms, conference rooms and administrative suites.

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The facility design includes exam rooms, consultation rooms, clean/soiled utility rooms, storage rooms, staff work areas, an exercise room, physical therapy area, and staff lounge. A circular courtyard located between the two wings is also featured in the design.

Textured stone will extend from the exterior to the interior to provide a seamless transition between the natural and built environments. A balance of wood tones, warm stone, and a nature-inspired color palette will present a comfortable healing atmosphere. Local landscape elements, including the mountains, mesas, and arroyos, will be represented throughout the building’s interior design.

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Culturally significant animals – elk, deer, roadrunners, and golden eagles – are used for interior wayfinding, artwork, decorative light fixtures, floor patterns, and inlays within terrazzo flooring.  

The landscape will highlight specific plants with medicinal value in Navajo culture. The site design surrounding the building includes a 213-stall parking lot, pedestrian sidewalks, a looped drive capable of supporting delivery trucks and EMS vehicles, fencing, stormwater management, offsite drainage, and a new boulevard entry. The healthcare facility is designed to achieve LEED Gold Certification, featuring an on-site renewable energy system, solar hot water system, PV carport canopies, rainwater harvesting facilities, and electric vehicle car charging stalls.

Following our work at the Oyate Health Center for Indian Health Service, we implemented very similar cultural research for the Alamo Navajo Health Center project. Reaching out to Tribal community members, providers and IHS team members, we completed community engagement as the COVID-19 pandemic was winding down. Incorporating design considerations shaped by the recent pandemic, each sessions’ discussions provided an opportunity to hear community priorities, address concerns, and incorporate feedback into the facility planning in an effort to establish design consensus as a part of the conceptual design phases.