After helping design nearly 20 major healthcare facilities in southern Nevada, including the 1-million-square-foot Veteran’s Administration Medical Center in Las Vegas, Larry H. Staples, AIA,  has joined HMC Architects as a principal to oversee the expansion of the firm’s Las Vegas practice.

“HMC Architects has already established itself as a significant architecture design firm in northern and southern Nevada, and we’re looking to expand our growing presence in southern Nevada,” said Staples, who spent the past 14 years with JMA Architects in Las Vegas after a seven-year-stint with Anderson DeBartolo Pan Architects in Tucson.

“Larry brings a great deal of architectural talent, contacts and leadership experience to our Las Vegas office,” said Jerry Eich, HMC’s healthcare practice leader, adding that Staples will oversee the expansion of HMC’s business base, while further improving client service. HMC’s current Las Vegas projects include the 110,000-square-foot four-story bed tower addition at the Universal Health Services’ Spring Valley Hospital Medical Center; the Wellish Vision Institute at Box Canyon and the Smoke Ranch Surgery Center. Other recent HMC projects include the 160-bed Rawson Neal Psychiatric Hospital and a master plan for an ambulatory surgery center for Catholic Healthcare West’s St. Rose de Lima campus.

During his 14 years in Las Vegas, Staples has helped design some of the most prominent medical and civic projects in the area, including the Sahara Rancho Medical Office Park, Hindred Hospital East Flamingo, the expansion of Summerlin Hospital Medical Center and remodeling of University Medical Center. He also helped design the Las Vegas Executive Air Terminal at McCarran Airport and served as an adjunct professor of architecture at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas School of Architecture. Outside of Nevada, Staples helped design a medical center at Elmendorf Air Base in Anchorage, Alaska, the Mayo Clinic expansion in Scottsdale, Ariz., and the Tucson Convention Center.