Anchor institutions place pressures on their surroundings. Hospitals, in particular, create tensions with their host communities. Stamford’s Westside is the most diverse and economically-challenged neighborhood in the city. Stillwater Avenue, the community’s main commercial corridor, is poised for transformation as the region’s primary hospital doubles its footprint.
The Vita Health and Wellness District provides a framework for growth that links the hospital expansion to the West Side. Working with the community leaders and small business owners, the plan integrates existing shops, urban agriculture, and community aspirations with innovative outreach by medical professionals. A new Health and Wellness building provides fitness, education and training surrounded by residential uses. An open space setback links the hospital expansion to the existing community farm along a new road.
Rather than demolishing the modest Fairgate Farm, a beloved, community garden, the urban design plan leverages this community-based asset and grows the open space network towards the new hospital’s front door. Increased programming and partnerships between the residents and the institution have emerged as new, mixed-income housing replaces the public housing projects that were arrayed around the broader geography.
- Madden Planning Group
- Development Strategies
- Reisen Design Associates
- Tripp Umbach
- Balance Health Communications
Charter Oak Communities DBA Housing Authority of Stamford
Neighborhood Integration
Establishing a health-focused community at the doorstep of the new Stamford Hospital campus helps both the institution and the neighborhood flourish. Flanking the hospital entrance is a vibrant mixed-use building that houses health-oriented retail, a fitness center, and workforce training programs. A lively, working farm on the other makes a visible statement – literal and metaphorical – about the hospital’s commitment to health and wellness. A shared parking facility enhances the ability of local businesses to succeed and also provides additional parking for hospital employees and visitors.