Open Door Care Network modernizes and expands community health footprint

Open Door Care Network is a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) in the Lower Hudson Valley region of New York State that treats about 60,000 patients annually across 15 locations. As an FQHC, it meets federal standards set by the Health Resources and Services Administration to deliver accessible primary care in underserved communities, alongside services including behavioral health, dental, optometry, dietetics and chronic disease management. About a third of its revenue comes from federal grant funding, which has become more scrutinized and harder to secure in recent years.

To support its continued growth and impact, CannonDesign, alongside our in-house Facility Optimization Solutions (FOS) and Blue Cottage of CannonDesign teams, worked with Open Door to develop an extensive master plan in 2019 for four of its primary clinical sites. The plan created a new care model for its primary care and specialty service lines and set a path to expand behavioral health and community wellness offerings.

The clinic in Ossining was prioritized as needing modernization and expansion as its patient population grew to 18,000 annually. The original facility, housed in a Main Street building dating to the turn of the century, had become overcrowded with too many service lines and could no longer support an efficient care flow.

To address this, the organization acquired a former bank building across the street to relocate select specialties and implement the new care model outlined in the master plan. Our team led the renovation, transforming the space to support primary care, behavioral health services and telehealth capabilities.

The clinic's exterior is designed to be a welcoming communal space, with an entry pavilion and public stairs with built-in bench-like seating for visitors or those walking by. Located just off the Old Croton Aqueduct Trail, which spans Westchester County, the building is highly visible for large swaths of the city. The two-story entrance aligns with the proportions and scale of the surrounding historical downtown buildings, while glass and wood cladding introduce a contemporary expression.

A main service line in the new clinic is behavioral healthcare. There are rooms for consultations as well as group therapy. To provide continuity of care, the primary care suite allows for behavioral health consults during a primary care visit without having to schedule another appointment or disrupt clinicians’ schedules. The exam rooms are large enough to accommodate family or loved ones that accompany patients without disrupting care or clinician needs.

The Open Door logo of interconnected and overlapping circles can also be found in subtle ways throughout the interior. It forms the lighting elements above the reception desks and the patterning on some furniture. Other parts of the interior design take design cues from the nearby Tappan Zee River, from the ombre blue privacy curtains to blue hues painted in exam rooms to the gentle wave curvature of the waiting room seating.

For staff, there are two floors of connected workspace for collaboration, as well as workstations located close to patient rooms for charting and other non-clinical work. In the summer months, staff have access to an outdoor patio area, as well as a café space with a large adjacent room intended for trainings or large workshops.

This first project in Open Door’s master plan sets the tone for what comes next. It shows how thoughtful and responsible design can reshape care delivery in ways that are both practical and deeply human, improving flow, expanding access and creating spaces that feel welcoming to the communities they serve. It also highlights the value of adaptive reuse, taking an existing building and giving it a new life in service of care.

Renovations to the Main Street clinic are ongoing and are expected to be completed in late 2026. They include expanding the dental clinic and modernizing women’s health and pediatric services, as well as podiatry, optometry and wellness programs.