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 | Jan 15, 2016
Mount Sinai Health System signs first healthcare IPD IFOA contract in New York City
Francis Cauffman, Syska Hennessy, Turner Construction are the primary parties in agreement.
| Jan 14, 2016
How to succeed with EIFS: exterior insulation and finish systems
This AIA CES Discovery course discusses the six elements of an EIFS wall assembly; common EIFS failures and how to prevent them; and EIFS and sustainability.
Great Solutions | Jan 6, 2016
Shepley Bulfinch develops elegant design solution to address behavioral issues in emergency departments
ED scheme allows staff to isolate unruly patients and visitors in a secure area.
Great Solutions | Jan 4, 2016
Toronto’s newest hospital employs 10 robots for moving food, supplies, and equipment
The 1.8 million-sf Humber River Hospital is loaded with high-tech gadgets. Its coolest innovation is the use of automated guided vehicles.
Urban Planning | Jan 4, 2016
The next boomtown? Construction and redevelopment sizzle in San Diego
The city's emission-reduction plan could drive influx into downtown
Healthcare Facilities | Dec 29, 2015
Wood materials aid in patient recovery in healthcare environments
Report says patient recovery times, pain perception, stress levels improve where natural materials are present.
Healthcare Facilities | Dec 15, 2015
What the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015 means for healthcare real estate development
CBRE Healthcare's Charles Maggio breaks down the impacts of the new legislation, which affects outpatient facilities.
Greenbuild Report | Dec 10, 2015
Sustainable performance: Hospital systems’ new financial and marketing imperative
Several years ago, the healthcare industry would have ranked in the bottom tier among adopters of sustainable design and construction. Now, it is outpacing other nonresidential sectors in moving toward high-performance, healthy environments.
Healthcare Facilities | Dec 2, 2015
Check out Perkins+Will’s ultra-transparent research center for the Allen Institute for Brain Science
The design orients labs like flower petals around a large light-filled central atrium; the effect is like the inside of a bee hive where researchers can see each other and what they are doing.
Healthcare Facilities | Nov 6, 2015
Paint company unveils product that can kill bacteria in hospitals
The new product from Sherwin-Williams, called Paint Shield, is said to not only kill over 99.9% of dangerous bacteria, but also reduces growth of “common microbes.”
