The University of Chicago Medicine (UChicago Medicine) is building Chicago’s first freestanding cancer center with inpatient and outpatient services. Aiming to bridge longstanding health disparities on Chicago’s South Side, the $815 million project will consolidate care and about 200 team members currently spread across at least five buildings.
The new facility, which broke ground in September, is expected to open to patients in spring 2027.
Designed by CannonDesign in collaboration with Blue Cottage of CannonDesign and Yazdani Studio, the center will serve both patient and academic needs by supporting the research, diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of cancer. It will have a capacity for up to 200,000 outpatient visits and 5,000 inpatient admissions per year.
The 575,000-sf, seven-story building, with room for expansion, will offer 80 inpatient beds (64 medical-surgical beds and a 16-bed ICU), 90 consultation and outpatient exam rooms, and an urgent care clinic that protects immunocompromised cancer patients from extended emergency room visits. To promote patient comfort and privacy, private infusion bays will be grouped by cancer type.
To improve the patient experience, the new facility will provide support services for patients and their families—including lifestyle classes, nutrition education, survivor support, music therapy, fitness classes, and a retail store selling cancer-specific products such as wigs or clothing with openings for ports. Family-friendly features also will include showers and on-site laundry machines, inpatient family dining areas, and larger consultation rooms for patients who attend appointments with loved ones.
In addition to a ground floor that serves both the University of Chicago campus and the surrounding neighborhood, amenities include a café, wellness and meeting spaces, public art, educational opportunities, and a publicly accessible garden.
The project will create more than 500 construction jobs and will give at least 41% of $435 million in construction contracts to minority- and women-owned firms.
On the Building Team:
Owner: University of Chicago Medicine (UChicago Medicine)
Design architect and architect of record: CannonDesign
MEP engineer: Affiliated Engineers with RTM Engineers
Structural engineer: Thornton Tomasetti
Contractor: Turner Construction
Related Stories
Healthcare Facilities | Sep 1, 2017
Caring for caregivers
Many healthcare organizations are increasingly focused on designing amenities, policies, and workplaces to better support their clinicians, health providers, and administrators.
Healthcare Facilities | Aug 30, 2017
Proactively addressing population health while improving access to care
The Golisano Center for Community Health offers integrated care to adults and children.
Giants 400 | Aug 29, 2017
Top 110 healthcare construction firms
Turner, McCarthy, and Skanska top BD+C’s ranking of the nation’s largest healthcare sector contractor and construction management firms, as reported in the 2017 Giants 300 Report.
Giants 400 | Aug 29, 2017
Top 80 healthcare engineering firms
WSP, AECOM, and KJWW top BD+C’s ranking of the nation’s largest healthcare sector engineering and EA firms, as reported in the 2017 Giants 300 Report.
Giants 400 | Aug 29, 2017
Top 125 healthcare architecture firms
HDR, HKS, and Perkins+Will top BD+C’s ranking of the nation’s largest healthcare sector architecture and AE firms, as reported in the 2017 Giants 300 Report.
Sponsored | Healthcare Facilities | Aug 28, 2017
McCarthy Building Companies helps make Marin County healthier
McCarthy will continue to lean on Bluebeam solutions to help solve the most critical issues, and to keep their information safe, secure, and organized.
Healthcare Facilities | Aug 28, 2017
5 elements for a healthy medical lounge
When done right, medical staff lounges are an essential part of the healthcare workplace.
Healthcare Facilities | Aug 24, 2017
7 design elements for creating timeless pediatric health environments
A recently published report by Shepley Bulfinch presents pediatric healthcare environments as “incubators for hospital design innovation.”
Healthcare Facilities | Aug 23, 2017
The future of healthcare architecture: obstacles and opportunities abound
Our current political drama has made our healthcare clients view the future of their business environment in much the same way most of us approach the latest weather report, with skepticism, writes David H. Watkins, FAIA.
Healthcare Facilities | Aug 23, 2017
Demographics and consolidation drive demand for medical office buildings
In its first-ever report on this sector, CBRE provides detailed analyses of 30 markets.