To comply with State Senate Bill 1953, which requires the seismic retrofit and upgrading of all acute care facilities in California, Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital has embarked on an ambitious modernization master plan. Phase 4 of this plan consisted of 472,000 gross square footage of new buildings, at $550 million.

The city mandated that the exterior architecture must be in the Spanish Colonial Revival style, for which Santa Barbara is so famous for, and imposed a three-story height limitation. LBL met the challenge by designing a therapeutic village of low-rise buildings with traditional exteriors, reflecting Santa Barbara architectrual style.