Esperanza Health Center
(Brighton Park)

Esperanza Health Center is a community health system whose mission is to promote healthy lifestyles and improve health status through the provision of high-quality care and wellness services. They emphasize education provided by a bilingual and culturally diverse staff dedicated to overcoming the barriers faced by underserved communities. Esperanza—meaning hope in Spanish—is living up to its name. 

Esperanza envisions a world where community residents will be served regardless of immigration status, race or ethnicity, and income or insurance. They will be able to realize their full potential through optimum health, concluding the client’s mission and vision. Understanding that health is a combination of physical, mental, and spiritual balance, the new Esperanza Health Center focuses on creating spaces for healing and wholeness. The building allows this community to continue to heal, flourish, and feel supported. 

JGMA designed a fully accessible building that is a contemporary community health center, providing critical services that are currently lacking in this southwest area of Chicago. By teaming up with local specialty care and community-based organizations, the new facility will house comprehensive healthcare and utilizes forward-thinking design to attract and unite the surrounding community. 

We transformed the previous brownfield site from an unyielding concrete slab into a new clinic with outdoor walking, community garden spaces, and a paved vehicular lot. Community interaction is first and foremost in the new building. The ground floor has been designed to challenge the typical definitions of interior and exterior. While blurring the lines between public plaza, lobby, and site, the colorful plaza attracts both the community and orients visitors to and through their ultimate destinations. This flowing and open lobby plan, located at the most predominant corner of the site, becomes the central and vibrant hub of the facility.