MOA ARCHITECTURE recently had the privilege of expanding on one of our most celebrated projects: The Denver Hospice’s Lowry Care Center. The Amy Davis Hospice Support Center adds a thoughtfully designed, two-story support facility to the existing building, reinforcing The Denver Hospice’s mission as the region’s largest nonprofit provider of life-enhancing hospice and palliative care.

This new support center accommodates office space for approximately 100 employees who provide bereavement and administrative services, in addition to a grief center offering dedicated therapy spaces. By relocating these programs—previously dispersed in Glendale—onto the same site as the inpatient care center, the design creates a seamless, convenient environment for patients and their families.

While our first project with The Denver Hospice centered on patients, this expansion allowed us to focus on the broader support system: hospice staff and the loved ones of patients. Our design process began with a deep dive into the needs and challenges of these users, guided by empathy and active listening.

Serving Family Needs

Bereavement therapy for family members and loved ones is a cornerstone of The Denver Hospice’s mission. To design effective spaces for these services, we collaborated closely with counseling staff, learning about the current use of their facilities and their aspirations for the new center.

The grief center now offers flexible spaces for children and adults to process grief through sensory activities, arts and crafts, and expressive music, such as drumming. Group, family, and individual therapy sessions are all supported in these adaptable spaces. A key feature is the connection to an outdoor patio, designed in collaboration with Norris Design, providing a private, serene environment for reflection and grief. Children can also use the patio for more active, outdoor therapy activities.

We aimed for a “home away from home” atmosphere, choosing furniture and finishes that evoke the comfort of a living room rather than a clinical facility. Every detail contributes to an environment that supports healing and emotional processing for those experiencing profound loss.

Understanding the Hospice Employee

A career in hospice care is deeply rewarding yet profoundly demanding. Staff witness patients’ final moments and provide critical support to families—work that requires immense emotional resilience. Our design seeks to honor that commitment by creating spaces that allow employees to recharge and reflect.

The new employee lounge was conceived as an “oasis” within the building: more than a typical break room, it provides a sanctuary where staff can retreat from the emotional weight of their work. Soft seating, a calming color palette, and distinct interior finishes differentiate this space from office and patient areas. For those who need focused work, the lounge also includes secluded workstations.

The lounge opens to a 750-square-foot outdoor deck, offering a private space for quiet reflection or rejuvenation. This “oasis” is part of a broader strategy to rethink the workplace for hospice employees, emphasizing flexibility, collaboration, and well-being throughout the building.

Designing with Empathy

The design process for the Amy Davis Hospice Support Center was guided by empathy and active engagement with users. Understanding the unique challenges faced daily by staff and families allowed us to create spaces that not only function efficiently but also nurture emotional well-being. This approach—essential in any healthcare project—proved particularly vital in a hospice setting, where design directly supports individuals confronting life’s most profound moments.

By focusing on the people behind and around the patients, we were able to extend the impact of our architecture beyond treatment spaces, creating environments that care for caregivers and families alike.