Last month, Columbia University’s College of Dental Medicine in New York debuted on the fifth floor of its Vanderbilt Clinic a 15,000-sf Center for Precision Dental Medicine, a loft-like facility that is part of a masterplan to restructure the institution’s dental education, research and practice.
The new Center—designed by Pei Cobb Freed & Partners in collaboration with the project’s AOR and Executive Architect Jeffrey Berman—is viewed as a prototype for the dental school’s collaborative and technology-driven curriculum, and as a model for subsequent renovations and redesigns at Vanderbilt Clinic.
“This is the beginning of a new wave of dental medicine,” proclaims Lee Goldman, MD, Dean of the Facilities of Health Sciences and Medicine and CEO of Columbia’s Medical Center.
Christian Stohler, DMD, DrMedDent, Dean of Columbia’s College of Dental Medicine and a Senior Vice President of the Medical Center, says the goal of the restructuring, in part, is to add value to the dental medicine curriculum by aligning it more closely to the Medical Center.
The Center for Precision Dental Medicine is organized into two wings of practice areas, each with three “neighborhoods” that encompass eight dental chairs, faculty workstations, and digital design and fabrication areas for 3D printing of dental prosthesis.
Each of the neighborhoods includes a computer screen that allows professors to observe the students they are supervising. The 48 dental chairs, perched atop raised floors, are tricked out with sensors that are being used to collect patient data that allow the medical staff and students to identify commonalities in order to tailor oral care to the surrounding population. (The dental school, located on the university’s Washington Heights campus, provides dentistry services to local residents.)
The sensors “let Columbia to get to the bottom of the community’s wellness issues,” says Christina Nambiar, a Project Architect with Pei Cobb.
The Building Team paid close attention to patient access and comfort. The indirect lighting was designed to minimize glare. And the operatories allow for a full spectrum of procedures, barrier-free access for people with physical disabilities, and ergonomic comfort for both patients and practitioners.
The partitions that separate the procedure spaces include translucent screens that provide patient privacy and generous circulation aisles.
Curvilinear and translucent partiitions, supplied by Planmeca/Triangle, provide transparency and patient privacy. Image: Jeff Goldberg
“The idea was to make the facility as accessible as possible,” explains Ian Bader of Pei Cobb, this project’s Lead Design Architect.
The building is 89 years old, so virtually all of the fifth floor’s systems were replaced during the renovation, says Bader. These include an RFID system tracking all operations, procedures and supplies; and central air handling units for each wing with variable air volume supply fans with variable frequency drive for overhead air distribution and 100% outdoor air airside economizer.
The ventilation system was designed with a computational fluid dynamic model for airborne infection control. IT, electrical, compressed air and vacuum system and plumbing are distributed under a raised floor. A building management system controls lighting and shades.
Nambiar says the floor and ceiling materials were supplied by the same vendor, Lidner. And throughout the Center there’s an “extensive use or Corian,” says Bader.
Other Building Team members included Cosentini Associates (MEPS), Severud Associates Consulting Engineering (SE), One Lux Studio (lighting designer), Planmeca/Triangle’s Montreal office (operatory manufacturer), and Planmeca’s Helsinki office (dental chairs).
Related Stories
| Jul 12, 2013
12 award-winning healthcare projects [slideshow]
AIA's Academy of Architecture for Health announced the recipients of the 2013 AIA National Healthcare Design Awards.
| Jul 2, 2013
LEED v4 gets green light, will launch this fall
The U.S. Green Building Council membership has voted to adopt LEED v4, the next update to the world’s premier green building rating system.
| Jul 1, 2013
Report: Global construction market to reach $15 trillion by 2025
A new report released today forecasts the volume of construction output will grow by more than 70% to $15 trillion worldwide by 2025.
| Jun 28, 2013
Building owners cite BIM/VDC as 'most exciting trend' in facilities management, says Mortenson report
A recent survey of more than 60 building owners and facility management professionals by Mortenson Construction shows that BIM/VDC is top of mind among owner professionals.
| Jun 20, 2013
Virtual meetings enhance design of University at Buffalo Medical School
HOK designers in New York, St. Louis and Atlanta are using virtual meetings with their University at Buffalo (UB) client team to improve the design process for UB’s new School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences on the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus.
| Jun 19, 2013
New York City considers new construction standards for hospitals, multifamily buildings
Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s administration has proposed new building codes for hospitals and multifamily dwellings in New York City to help them be more resilient in the event of severe weather resulting from climate change.
| Jun 17, 2013
DOE launches database on energy performance of 60,000 buildings
The Energy Department today launched a new Buildings Performance Database, the largest free, publicly available database of residential and commercial building energy performance information.
| Jun 12, 2013
5 building projects that put the 'team' in teamwork
The winners of the 2013 Building Team Awards show that great buildings cannot be built without the successful collaboration of the Building Team.
| Jun 5, 2013
USGBC: Free LEED certification for projects in new markets
In an effort to accelerate sustainable development around the world, the U.S. Green Building Council is offering free LEED certification to the first projects to certify in the 112 countries where LEED has yet to take root.