In late July, Animal Emergency & Referral Center (AERC) in Minnesota held a grand reopening of its facility in Oakdale, Minn., which underwent a $4.5 million, 17,000-sf expansion that included the installation of medical equipment that is equal to, and sometimes better than, equipment found in medical centers that treat human patients.
The clinic, which was constructed in 2009, over the past several years has increased its pet care specialty services to include internal medicine, surgery, rehabilitation, cardiology, dentistry and oral surgery, dermatology, radiology, and neurology.
As it business grew (it now has 10 specialties), AERC also became better known as a referral service for other clinics.
In 2015, “we looked at how we could max out the Oakdale site,” says Stephen Iaria, AIA, Managing Principal|Architecture for Krech, O’Brien, Mueller & Associates in Grove Heights, Minn., which has worked with AERC since the Center started operating out of a strip mall in 2000. (AERC also has a clinic in St. Paul, Minn.)
AERC owned some contiguous land, and the city of Oakdale “was okay” about the Center using it for expansion, says Iaria. The new space provides more room for staff and patients, as well as for specialized medical equipment.
Because it has two operating tables, one of the three surgery suites in the expanded Oakdale facility needed to have better air quality and circulation than are required in an operating room for humans. Image: Adam Kennedy Photography
“It was designed as if it would be for human medicine,” says Iaria. This includes three surgery suites, one of which exceeds human requirements for air quality and circulation because it has two operating tables. That suite also required specialized lighting.
AERC selected MRI and CT scan equipment from the human medical field for their extra power and better image quality. The MRI machine weighs approximately 3,000 pounds and had to be lifted into place via crane. Because of the MRI’s magnetic pull, no surrounding components could contain metal. The CT machine required lead shielding due to its radiation emission.
“There is a real need for these specialists, and having a clinic that can function and house specialty equipment and adapt to the changing medical needs is such a large piece of that,” says Dr. Karen Reynhout, DVM, AERC’s Hospital Director.
A 3,000-pound MRI machine that was installed during the clinic's renovation and expansion provides the same image quality and power as machines used for humans. Image: Adam Kennedy Photography
In addition to the expansion, AERC had some minor work done to its existing building, including the conversion of one space to a multipurpose room. The renovation team also installed an elevator into a pit that had been designed a decade ago. And a smaller surgery suite was converted into an ultrasound room.
The second floor of the Oakdale clinic is now primarily office and boardroom space.
The second floor of the clinic is now used mostly for offices and meeting rooms. Image: Adam Kennedy Photography
Krech, O’Brien was the architect, structural engineer, and interior designer on this project. The renovation team included Emanuelson-Podas (MEP), DJ Kranz (GC), and The Center for Diagnostic Imaging (specialty equipment vendor).
During the renovation, Iaria says his firm “got deep into” how to detail rooms in order to have “an ultra clean environment.”
Related Stories
| Jan 19, 2011
New Fort Hood hospital will replace aging medical center
The Army Corps of Engineers selected London-based Balfour Beatty and St. Louis-based McCarthy to provide design-build services for the Fort Hood Replacement Hospital in Texas, a $503 million, 944,000-sf complex partially funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The firm plans to use BIM for the project, which will include outpatient clinics, an ambulance garage, a central utility plant, and three parking structures. Texas firms HKS Architects and Wingler & Sharp will participate as design partners. The project seeks LEED Gold.
| Jan 10, 2011
Michael J. Alter, president of The Alter Group: ‘There’s a significant pent-up demand for projects’
Michael J. Alter, president of The Alter Group, a national corporate real estate development firm headquartered in Skokie, Ill., on the growth of urban centers, project financing, and what clients are saying about sustainability.
| Dec 17, 2010
ARRA-funded Navy hospital aims for LEED Gold
The team of Clark/McCarthy, HKS Architects, and Wingler & Sharp are collaborating on the design of a new naval hospital at Camp Pendleton in Southern California. The $451 million project is the largest so far awarded by the U.S. Navy under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The 500,000-sf, 67-bed hospital, to be located on a 70-acre site, will include facilities for emergency and primary care, specialty care clinics, surgery, and intensive care. The Building Team is targeting LEED Gold.
| Dec 17, 2010
Arizona outpatient cancer center to light a ‘lantern of hope’
Construction of the Banner MD Anderson Cancer Center in Gilbert, Ariz., is under way. Located on the Banner Gateway Medical Center campus near Phoenix, the three-story, 131,000-sf outpatient facility will house radiation oncology, outpatient imaging, multi-specialty clinics, infusion therapy, and various support services. Cannon Design incorporated a signature architectural feature called the “lantern of hope” for the $90 million facility.
| Oct 18, 2010
World’s first zero-carbon city on track in Abu Dhabi
Masdar City, the world’s only zero-carbon city, is on track to be built in Abu Dhabi, with completion expected as early as 2020. Foster + Partners developed the $22 billion city’s master plan, with Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture, Aedas, and Lava Architects designing buildings for the project’s first phase, which is on track to be ready for occupancy by 2015.
| Oct 13, 2010
Prefab Trailblazer
The $137 million, 12-story, 500,000-sf Miami Valley Hospital cardiac center, Dayton, Ohio, is the first major hospital project in the U.S. to have made extensive use of prefabricated components in its design and construction.
| Oct 13, 2010
Hospital tower gets modern makeover
The Wellmont Holston Valley Medical Center in Kingsport, Tenn., expanded its D unit, a project that includes a 243,443-sf addition with a 12-room operating suite, a 36-bed intensive care unit, and an enlarged emergency department.
| Oct 13, 2010
Hospital and clinic join for better patient care
Designed by HGA Architects and Engineers, the two-story Owatonna (Minn.) Hospital, owned by Allina Hospitals and Clinics, connects to a newly expanded clinic owned by Mayo Health System to create a single facility for inpatient and outpatient care.
| Oct 13, 2010
Maryland replacement hospital expands care, changes name
The new $120 million Meritus Regional Medical Center in Hagerstown, Md., has 267 beds, 17 operating rooms with high-resolution video screens, a special care level II nursery, and an emergency room with 53 treatment rooms, two trauma rooms, and two cardiac rooms.
| Oct 13, 2010
Cancer hospital plans fifth treatment center
Construction is set to start in December on the new Cancer Treatment Centers of America’s $55 million hospital in Newnan, Ga. The 225,000-sf facility will have 25 universal inpatient beds, two linear accelerator vaults, an HDR/Brachy therapy vault, and a radiology and imaging unit.
