As spring turns to summer, the world around us is reaching its yearly green peak, with plants and trees displaying various shades. Urban environments like the Oakland neighborhood of Pittsburgh tend to see much less impact from the return of chlorophyll.
That will be changing in a year’s time, with the opening of the new Daniel G and Carole L Kamin Tower at UPMC Presbyterian. Aside from its leading clinical and patient experience features, Kamin Tower will feature three dedicated outdoor green spaces designed to enhance the patient and staff experience and give the community a natural escape, restoring unique park-type spaces to an otherwise hardscaped area.
“This is going to be a special place, whether you’re a resident, a student, an employee, a patient, or a member of their family,” said John Krolicki, vice president, Facilities and Support Services, UPMC Presbyterian Shadyside, and chief administrative sustainability officer, UPMC. “It’s about creating different spaces all revolving around health and wellness.”
According to building architect HGA, the spaces will feature “pathways filled with native ground cover, shrubs, and large trees that will provide shade and enhance the environment. It’s an approach that came together through close partnership among UPMC, HGA, and landscape architecture firm OLIN, with help from Pittsburgh-based researchers and even a Pennsylvania artist.
The Science Behind the Design
Research has long shown that a connection to the natural environment has a positive impact on overall wellness. According to a 2021 study from the World Health Organization, time spent in natural settings, including those set in urban areas, improve moods, mindsets, and mental health. Research also suggests that exposure to areas like parks and gardens can promote physical activity and provide opportunities for social interaction.
A map of the green spaces.
Additionally, a National Institute of Health study on exposure to nature in an inpatient setting concludes that “nature appears to have a real but small therapeutic effect, predominantly on psychological metrics like anxiety/depression, pain, and patient satisfaction. Greater beneficial effects are seen with greater durations of exposure to nature and greater degrees of immersion into nature.”
Inside the tower, HGA collaborated with Carnegie Mellon University’s School of Architecture on a daylight analysis to help guide glass selection and a shading strategy for patient rooms facing southwest.
“Research shows that more connection to daylight, landscaping, and green space helps improve patient outcomes from a healing perspective, and we’ve been really intentional in engaging those types of opportunities,” said Kyle Weisman, healthcare principal and vice president, HGA. “The Kamin tower is not just a beautiful building, but a highly functional one. The design intentionally connects to nature — from overall planning to the smallest details. The integration of natural light, materials, and views was a guiding principle, ensuring the space performs as thoughtfully as it inspires.”
The crew plants a tree.
How were the many details chosen to bring it all together? It took a lot of teamwork, trust, and expertise across many fields. “Our intent for the project was to create a wonderful outdoor space and experience for the staff and patients at the hospital,” said Skip Graffam, landscape architect and partner, OLIN.
“The planting choices have to be robust enough to function in an urban environment, which is often tougher than a park, particularly in terms of soil volumes and general stresses on trees,” he said. The city of Pittsburgh has a preferred palette of street trees and plants the experts at OLIN selected from. “The plants and trees are native or adapted to the Pittsburgh and western Pennsylvania ecosystem. They are attractive, hardy, thrive in urban environments, and have ecological benefits, like habitats for birds.”
The Terrace, the Grove, and the Piazza
Three specific areas have been thoughtfully designed to bring nature to the Kamin Tower site and to restore a traditional community park-like atmosphere to the UPMC Presbyterian campus grounds.
The Piazza, located at ground level on Fifth Avenue, will feature lush greenery, built-in seating areas, an expansive open area for food trucks, farmers markets, and other vendor events, and an upper terrace to sit and enjoy the activities
The nearby Grove will be another vibrant green space featuring tiered seating surrounding a plaza which can be used for smaller events, pathways, and plants and trees celebrating the native ecology of the region. This area will also intermingle with Pittsburgh Regional Transit’s Atwood Station, part of the Bus Rapid Transit system being built between downtown Pittsburgh and Oakland.
A rendering of the Terrace.
The Terrace, located on top of the parking garage, will feature many of the same amenities as the other green spaces, and includes a stage, plaza, and tiered seating large enough to accommodate movie nights, concerts, and educational presentations, all capable of being broadcast directly to patient rooms. A large selection of shade plants will make this area comfortable, even in the summer months, and a walking path will meander around the perimeter of the space.
The Terrace also features art built into the ground itself: Artist Stacy Levy was retained to design a work that comprises part of the Terrace paving. Pavers of different shades and textures are arranged to depict acanthus leaves and stems which wind through the pathways. The design is striking under foot and is visible from patient rooms on the western side of the tower.
Connecting the Community
“We did a lot of research in talking with the Oakland community,” John said. “We had discussions with residents and community organizations, patients, their families, and our staff. The resulting green spaces are about everything we heard people wanted, and we’re delivering on that.”
“We intentionally created walking paths and seating areas that allow for the landscape to provide different levels of engagement with the community and the patients and the staff,” Kyle said, “which I think is going to be a huge benefit — that idea of an urban crossroads of park and community.”
“As an organization, UPMC is really innovative and truly going deep on the research to get understanding before the large capital investment of a project,” Kyle added. “We gained deep insight from the community, patients, and staff about what’s working, what’s not working, what the future could be to really support life changing medicine.
A Master Class in Collaboration
“This is the kind of project, as an architect, you dream to be a part of: meaningful, complex, and deeply impactful,” Kyle said. “What truly sets it apart is the extraordinary collaboration with UPMC, the Oakland community, local business leaders and the surrounding neighborhoods. That level of partnership has elevated every aspect of the work, transforming it into not just a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, but a shared achievement we can all be proud of.”
“It’s been a fantastic experience,” Skip said. “UPMC has consistently adhered to the vision we all agreed to and directed the contractor accordingly. UPMC has supported the design throughout and has been an amazing client. It has been an absolute pleasure to work on this project for that reason.”
“Hopefully, the patients and staff are really going to reap the benefits of that and it’s just super rewarding to be able to be part of a team of creating a vision that will hopefully leave a lasting impact for UPMC, the community, and the patients who will be inside this building for many, many years,” Kyle said.
Apart from patients and their families, area businesses, vendors, and artists will benefit from the thousands of people going through the building each day. “We really feel this is going to be a draw,” John said. “We are going to have a building that will match the excellence that happens inside.”
Learn More
Check out the June 2026 edition of First Friday to get more details on the project and learn about how The Daniel G and Carole L Kamin Tower at UPMC Presbyterian is going to be an awe-inspiring facility, both inside and out.
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