Gensler's MLK Medical Center Plan Centered on Walking/Biking

The County Board of Supervisors approved the new master plan for the Martin Luther King Medical Center Campus yesterday. And hey, look at that: it was MLK's birthday, to boot. The plan was developed by architecture firm Gensler and focuses on wellness and preventative health measures in general. It's not actually binding in any way, but it does set out a vision for the troubled hospital's 42 acres of county-owned land and its surrounding community. The plan envisions the site's organizing principle to be a so-called "Wellness Spine" of walking and biking paths, meant to promote active lifestyles. In addition, the plan promotes a new mental health urgent care center, mixed-use health retail space, medical office space, and a retirement community. In the wider community the plan recommends school-based health clinics, community gardens, and parks. The old MLKMC was shut in 2007 due to a whole host of problems--so many problems they got a five-part series in the LA Times. A new hospital and outpatient facilities are scheduled to open next year.
· HMC Architects to Gloss Up Martin Luther King, Jr. Medical Center [Curbed LA]