The OPC2 building will be a six-story, 89,000-square-foot outpatient center that will adjoin the existing outpatient center with clinics for cardiology, rehabilitation, neurology and other subspecialties. Turner Construction is serving as the general contractor on the new outpatient center, while HDR Inc. and Taylor Design are working together on the project design. All three have local offices in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Design features for the new facility include colorful glass panels that combine with playful detailing to establish the western gateway for the hospital campus, according to Doug Nelson, executive director of facilities development and construction for the hospital. Warm, natural materials and the use of daylighting create a healing, rejuvenating environment. For instance, aluminum canopies along the southern face of the building shade the glass, while bouncing light into the building’s core.

The facility’s tilted glass wall also engages with subway passengers passing the facility, while colored boxes along the exterior surface create cozy windowsills with views of the street activities below. An outdoor therapy patio provides patients with a direct connection to the outdoors.

Art also played a key role in the design, Nelson said. The flowing lines in the flooring mimic a colorful, local mural called Temescal Flows. A wide pedestrian entry concourse features community-based art that welcomes all outpatient visitors while also linking outpatient care lobbies to the existing structured parking and to the main hospital campus to the south.

Designed as a LEED for Healthcare Silver facility, this is the first building block in the hospital’s campus transition plan. The facility will use 38.4 percent less energy than the average building of its kind and will reduce water usage by 35 percent. The project team also selected low-emitting building materials for optimal indoor air quality and sustainability.

Nelson said that the project team faced some initial challenges with relocating the existing building at 52nd street and Martin Luther King Jr. Way. “Focusing on the community and trying to meet the construction demands while mitigating any impacts to the surrounding neighborhoods continues to present some challenges,” he said.

Schedule and cost also continues to be a discussion of potential risk, according to Nelson, and components of the structure such as the exterior wall systems with the unique glass mosaic of many colors and accents will require special attention.

The entire $500 million Master Plan project also includes a rebuilding of the main hospital that will increase the number of patient beds to 210 on site; create individual patient rooms; and add new surgical, diagnostic and treatment rooms as well as support services and clinics. A large part of creating the Master Plan came through public outreach that engaged stakeholders within the community, neighborhood and the hospital, to create a unified vision for the campus. This vision has helped create consensus and support, and celebrates the greatness of all children. The vision for the Master Plan is “An Amazing Journey,” and it has inspired the design team as well as the community to push further and create something that will better serve the needs of patients, families and our community.

“We are thrilled to begin the next chapter in UCSF Benioff Oakland’s amazing journey,” said Bertram Lubin, MD, president and chief executive officer of UCSF Benioff Oakland, in a statement. “For over 100 years, the hospital has strived to provide the best medical care for our patients, and our Master Plan project will enhance the hospital’s ability to focus on family-centered care with new, modern, and seismically compliant buildings and technology.”

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Situated on a 4.4-acre site, the new building will relieve overcrowding at the hospital and nearly quintuple the size of neonatal intensive care space from approximately 7,700 square feet to 36,600 square feet. The pediatric care unit will also triple in size and family education, living spaces and waiting areas, and an expanded play room will also be added. Overall, the neonatal and intensive care space at the new tower will add several private rooms and expand space from just 10,000 square feet to 50,000 square feet. The tower and master plan are led by HDR Inc, headquartered in Omaha, Neb.

While the building will hold great meaning to the medical center, which is in desperate need for additional and updated medical spaces, the design features symbolism derived from the Hawaiian culture and landscape, according to Jim Hohenstein, AIA, senior vice president at HDR Inc.

“Because much of the money to build the original Kapio’lani Maternity Hospital was raised through celebrations and luaus to create a link with the past, the new KMCWC was design to celebrate the natural features of the Aloha State and its people,” Hohenstein said. “The use of indigenous Hawaiian materials is meant to lend a familiarity to the families and patient that will use the facility. The use of symbols and imagery will pay homage to the island’s people, customs and traditions.”

The rock, ocean and landscape are integral to the Hawaiian environment and serve as metaphors for birth, life and health, Hohenstein said. The design expounds on this metaphor through various design details and features.

“The overall folded plate of the building exterior represents a seashell and the protective environment it provides for the living form inside, much as the hospital will do for its patients,” Hohenstein said. “The placing of the lei over a person’s head is a traditional Hawaiian greeting, so all who enter the facility will receive this spirit of aloha. An open lei built of simulated wood panels surrounds the front door for all to pass through.”

In undertaking the massive master plan, Hohenstein said he took away from the project the importance of remaining flexible and open-minded during the planning phases.

“This project took two major master planning efforts with numerous smaller iterations over a seven-year period before actual hospital construction took place,” he said. “HDR remained flexible and open to new ideas whenever the client’s criteria changed and we were therefore able to adjust a move with the punches. Locking in too early on master plan concepts and not being able to back off and take another look would have been detrimental.”

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Omaha, Neb.-based HDR Inc. served as the architect, while Centennial, Colo.-based Haselden Construction LLC served as the general contractor. J.R. Butler Inc., based in Denver, was the glazing contractor that worked with glazing systems manufacturer Wausau Window and Wall Systems from Wausau, Wis. — both of which were heavily involved in the design-assist process.

The new tower more than doubles the size of the previous emergency department, which now takes up 56,000 square feet on the first floor. Neurology, cardiology, oncology, acute and critical care are on individual floors. A new rooftop landing pad and dedicated trauma elevators are also available for patients to be transported by helicopter.

The tower’s design features a high-performance, serpentine curtainwall with sun shades, which greatly help the building achieve energy efficiencies required to earn LEED Gold certification.

“Wausau Window and Wall Systems’ 7250i-UW unitized curtainwall system is factory-glazed for long-term weather resistance and speed of installation. The thermally broken frames, along with high-performance, low-e, insulating glass, provide enhanced energy performance and condensation resistance,” said Lisa May, LEED Green Associate, health care market manager for Wausau Window and Wall Systems. “The high visible light transmittance vision glass connects the occupants to the outside, providing views and exploiting natural daylight. Wausau’s ClearStory exterior sun shades make an aesthetic statement and reject solar heat gain.”

Construction on the project began in early 2011 to serve an immediate need for additional patient space. Since 2007, ambulances had been regularly diverted to other medical facilities due to lack of room.

The project team used several techniques to speed up the construction process. For instance, they used finite element thermal modeling to analyze the thermal performance of certain frame-glass combinations, which helped the team select the appropriate glass makeup for the design. They also saved time by creating the curtainwall shop drawings and the construction documents at the same time.

“To overcome the timeline, the curtainwall subcontractor was brought on board during the design phase,” May said. “During the design phase, the team discussed constructability issues, provided design-assist services, evaluated value engineering options and maintained the curtainwall budget as the design progressed.”

SuperWall was installed on the ground floor while unitized curtainwall was modified as a ribbon window system for the third floor. Created within the curtainwall design, the sun shades use a double bracket that can be attached prior to installation, which also helps save time in the field.

Because of efficient collaboration, J.R. Butler completed the curtainwall five weeks early, and construction on the building took only 22 months.

Undergoing a four-phase development that started in 2000, the UCH campus will eventually include more than 750 beds and consist of approximately 2 million square feet with a construction value of about $400 million. When completed, the campus’ master plan will have a construction value of more than $2 billion.

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Construction on the new hospital began in 2010 and is scheduled for completion and activation in 2015. Dallas-based BARA is serving as the construction manager. In a joint effort, Omaha, Neb.-headquartered HDR Inc. and Dallas-headquartered Corgan Associates are working as the master architect.

Known as the largest hospital construction project in the nation, the 2.5 million-square-foot facility costs $1.27 billion. It includes an 862-bed adult inpatient hospital, a 380,000-square-foot outpatient center, 6,000-vehicle parking lot and central utility plant and logistics building.

The new facility will provide a patient-centered environment, with 38 percent more bed space than the current facility. It is being designed to promote a more healing environment by incorporating natural light and windows and will include the latest technologies.

The design will also be adaptable so that the campus can evolve with the health care industry over the next 50 years.

KLMK will assist the hospital in the development and implementation of the Move Activation plan, which includes patient relocation, staff move coordination, management of content relocation activities and budget and schedule development. The company will also assist with the tracking of the training plan, IT planning, occupancy strategy development and provide information to facilitate timely decision making.

The construction team is on schedule and on budget, despite significant leadership changes. In December, the central utility plant began utility service to the new hospital campus. Earlier this month, the construction team completed the topping out of the Women’s and Infant’s Specialty Health (WISH) clinic, which will occupy about 100,000 square feet when completed.

Over the course of the project, an estimated 3,000 jobs will be created.
 

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