Healthcare construction has slowed a bit in the last few years, but it remains a critically important sector for many AEC firms. While healthcare clients are demanding sustainable design and construction as a matter of course, green building is no longer limited strictly to hospital projects.
In Seattle, Swedish Cancer Institute has installed a factory-fabricated radiotherapy treatment “vault” to house its TomoTherapy treatment system. RAD Technology Medical Systems manufactured steel modules for the vault at its production facility, along with prefab wood modules for the patient exam and office portion of the nearly 4,000-sf facility. It is believed to be the first radiation center to earn LEED Silver certification.
Another first—at least for a privately owned facility—goes to San Francisco Surgical Arts’ LEED-CI Platinum (v.2009) oral and maxillofacial surgery office. Environmental Building Strategies led the Building Team—medical designer Kohan Inc. and contractor All Phase Builders—in reducing lighting power 37% and water usage 40% over conventional facilities. Solar-powered keyboards and Energy Star-qualified LED monitors and appliances were also used.
For the $538 million expansion of Phoenix Children’s Hospital (designed by HKS to Green Guide for Health Care standards), Kitchell Contractors built a central energy plant for the 34-acre campus that employs a high-efficiency, 800-ton water-to-water heat pump chiller, a technology widely used in the Middle East.
The central plant will save 5.6 million gallons of water per year, reduce natural gas consumption by 70%, and trim energy and operating costs $11 million over 15 years. The project also received a $464,000 cash award from APS Solutions for Business, the local electrical utility’s energy-conservation program for commercial customers.
In Richmond, Va., Moseley Architects worked with design partners KEI Architects,
Dennis Kowal Architects, and John Dickinson & Partners and GC Kenbridge Construction on the renovation of the Virginia Rehabilitation Center for the Blind and Vision Impaired Administration and Activities Building. The center provides training for blind, vision-impaired, and deaf-blind Virginians to adapt to living with partial or no sight.
Commonwealth guidelines called for the $4,272,600 project to bring the facility, which was built in 1970, up to LEED Silver standards. The team went well beyond that. A central skylit atrium brought light and warmth into the facility. Variable-speed HVAC systems and energy-recovery technology were installed. Single-pane windows were replaced with low-e, double-pane units. Existing halide site lights were upgraded to LED fixtures. Energy use was trimmed 15%, water consumption by 30%, saving 34,000 gallons a year.
As a result of these measures, the project earned LEED Gold certification.
The team also embraced “sustainability” in a larger context in making the center compliant with ADA Accessibility Guidelines. By not focusing exclusively on what could be seen, the team created a design that considered such factors as echoes, smells, and proportions to arrive at what they called a “building for sighted people.”
Another project seeking to break new ground in sustainability is the Palliative Care Campus, a 120-unit Enhanced Assisted Living Residence for persons with serious progressive illnesses. It is said to be the world’s first spirit-centered, enhanced assisted-living community residence. The client, the HealthCare Chaplaincy, is a national leader in research, education, and multi-faith patient-centered care. FXFOWLE Architects is the AOR and designer, in collaboration with MHG Architects and Clodagh Design.
The 16-story, 180,000-sf project, to be built in Lower Manhattan along the East River, will also house a geriatric and palliative care outpatient medical practice, plus research, educational, clinical practice, and administrative spaces. The facility will address not only patients’ physical ills, but also their psychological and spiritual well-being. The HealthCare Chaplaincy hopes the new campus will serve as a national demonstration project for the healthcare industry. +
Related Stories
| Oct 4, 2011
GREENBUILD 2011: Mythic Paint launches two new paint products
A high performance paint, and a combination paint and primer now available.
| Oct 4, 2011
GREENBUILD 2011: Wall protection line now eligible to contribute to LEED Pilot Credit 43
The Cradle-to-Cradle Certified Wall Protection Line offers an additional option for customers to achieve LEED project certification.
| Oct 3, 2011
Magellan Development Group opens Village Market in Chicago’s Lakeshore East neighborhood
Magellan Development Group and Hanwha Engineering & Construction are joint-venture development partners on the project. The Village Market was designed for Silver LEED certification by Loewenberg Architects and built by McHugh Construction.
| Oct 3, 2011
Balance bunker and Phase III projects breaks ground at Mitsubishi Plant in Georgia
The facility, a modification of similar facilities used by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Inc. (MHI) in Japan, was designed by a joint design team of engineers and architects from The Austin Company of Cleveland, Ohio, MPSA and MHI.
| Oct 3, 2011
Cauceglia to lead Allsteel’s global accounts
Cauceglia is responsible for developing new global business strategies and expanding existing business within the Fortune 500 sector.
| Sep 30, 2011
BBS Architects & Engineers completes welcoming center at St. Charles Resurrection Cemetery
The new structure serves as the cemetery's focal architectural point and center of operations.
| Sep 30, 2011
Kilbourn joins Perkins Eastman
Kilbourn joins with more than 28 years of design and planning experience for communities, buildings, and interiors in hospitality, retail/mixed-use, corporate office, and healthcare.
| Sep 30, 2011
Design your own floor program
Program allows users to choose from a variety of flooring and line accent colors to create unique floor designs to complement any athletic facility.
| Sep 30, 2011
AAMA offers electronic technical documents with launch of virtual library
This new program offers a system for members to purchase annual licenses in order to offer electronic versions of AAMA publications in an effort to make AAMA’s technical information resources more readily available to their employees.
| Sep 29, 2011
Submit your Great Solutions
Profiles of Great Solutions will appear in December 2011 issue of Building Design+Construction.
