Henry has most recently been serving as design director for the Health sector, where he played a pivotal role in bringing to life many of HDR’s most noteworthy projects. He has worked on notable projects such as The Pavilion for the University of Pennsylvania Medical Center, Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi, and currently The Ohio State University’s Wexner Medical Center. Henry also was the co-design lead for New Parkland Hospital, the largest county hospital in the U.S.; design director for Lackland Ambulatory Care Center, the largest of its kind in the Department of Defense; worked with Kaiser Permanente on the Reimagining Ambulatory Design project; and many other healthcare, education, science, technology and civic projects, including Galveston Fire Station #4, a winner of several respected architecture awards.

“Jim is the natural pick to lead the West region. He is a design purist, which means that dynamic, effective and quality design leads every aspect of his work down to the tiniest details,” said Hank Adams, HDR’s global director of health, in a statement. “Throughout his 13-year career at HDR, Jim has demonstrated a high level of leadership, collaboration and understanding of how HDR can bring its expertise to bear to best serve the healthcare industry. He has been instrumental in not only elevating our Health design practice, but also in successfully implementing our business development strategies, recruiting exceptional talent and growing the firm.”

Henry’s extensive portfolio brings nearly 20 years of architectural experience reflecting his commitment to designing physical environments that enrich lives and promote the humanistic principles he strongly values. In 2015, he received a Young Architect Award from the AIA. He’s also been named a “40 Under 40” professional by Building Design & Construction Magazine and one of “20 Under 40” leaders in Texas and Louisiana by Engineering News-Record.

“I’m honored to take on this position for our firm,” Henry said in a statement. “Design leads everything that we do and I hope to leverage my design experience in this new role, focusing on growing our Health practice with the amazing teams we have in the West Region.”

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TYLER, Texas — The Christus Trinity Mother Frances Health System in Tyler broke ground April 3 on an expansion of the Christus Mother Frances Hospital. This expansion is a two-part project that includes a new parking garage and a tower that will house an Emergency Care Center, Intensive Care Units and multiple support services, with additional space for future growth.

The 186,452-square-foot tower will have a skywalk leading to the 297,300-square-foot, 850-space parking garage. The combined budget for the two-part project is approximately $92.1 million. This expansion is a coordinated effort between HDR Architects, SSR Engineering and McCarthy Contractors — all based out of Dallas — and Walter P. Moore out of Houston. Construction on the parking garage began in May, projected for completion in Jan. 2018. Construction on the tower is projected to begin after the completion of the parking garage in Feb. 2018, with construction completion scheduled for fall of 2019.

The overall goal of the hospital expansion is twofold, according to Kyle Rutherford, associate vice president for construction services at Christus Trinity Mother Frances Health System. Part one is the construction of the parking garage to alleviate current parking issues for the hospital, and part two is to improve the existing Emergency Care Center (ECC) and ICU capabilities of the hospital. “The ECC will have a linear design that will include all private rooms to improve patient privacy and positively impact infection control,” said Rutherford.

Additionally, the new ECC will bring leading-edge technology, improved patient flow, air flight and ground transportation accessibility to improve wait time and length of stay.

The plans for the expansion include 48 private treatment rooms in the ECC, with dedicated pediatric-friendly rooms and a surge capacity to 52 to allow up to 90,000 visits annually. “The existing ECC was constructed to receive approximately 45,000 visits each year, and we’ve averaged more than 80,000 visits annually for some time now, making us the busiest ECC in the area,” said Rutherford.

The new tower will have six levels, with a range of services in the basement, a state-of-the-art- emergency care center on level one, a 24-bed ICU on both levels three and four, with level five yet undesignated, open for future growth needs. The expansion’s final level includes a rooftop with two helipads that will bring the medical center’s “Flight For Life” program into a new area with direct ECC access, improving accessibility to ECC care.

“The expansion will provide covered parking for all visitors, as well as an ECC that will improve throughput and decrease wait times in a private and comfortable environment, especially for our pediatric patients and their families,” said Rutherford. The ICU design will allow the clinical staff to have bedside clinical documentation, continuous patient observation and a “hospitality room” feel, according to Rutherford. “Support services will be readily available, reducing the distance staff will need to travel, minimizing time away from patients,” said Rutherford. Additionally, interior enhancements of water features, indirect lighting and other planned aesthetic improvements for the hospital were chosen to reduce stress and create a calming and healing environment for patients.

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COUPEVILLE, Wash. — The WhidbeyHealth Medical Center expansion in Coupeville is now 75 percent complete. The $50 million project began in September of 2015 and is slated for completion in early Oct. 2017.

The two-story, 60,000-square-foot project was designed by the Seattle office of HDR Architects and Engineering, with Andersen Construction (also in Seattle) serving as the general contractor, with George Senerth, director of facilities and plant engineering at WhidbeyHealth directing the project. Marc Estvold, an Anacortes architect, has been hired as a contract project manager on the project.

The new expansion will include 39 rooms for inpatients, observation and labor and delivery, according to Craig Holt, project executive at Andersen Construction. All patient rooms are single occupancy and are located at the perimeter of the building allowing natural light to enter the rooms while maintaining privacy, according to Holt. The previous patient rooms were 210 square feet, with the new single-patient rooms measuring at 280 square feet. Labor and delivery suites will also be larger at 392 square feet and 87-square-foot bathrooms, with large white soaking tubs. The new patient rooms will be large enough to include high-tech medical equipment and will include a private bathroom for each, with almost every room with a motorized lift above the bed.

The new wing is being constructed with smooth, non-porous walls and floors, increased hands-free sinks, and more airborne infection isolation rooms in an effort towards more infection-control. Instead of a large centralized desk as in the past, small work stations have been installed in the hallways directly outside patient doors to decrease time spent going back and forth. There is also a “nurse server” pass-through slot on patient doors, so supplies can be delivered to patients in a way that will offer the patients more privacy and rest. “Patients can expect a more healing environment when the medical center’s new wing opens in late spring,” said Geri Forbes, chief executive officer at WhidbeyHealth in a recent statement.

Each room has a “family zone,” with cushioned benches with cushions to provide seating and a place for a visitor to sleep overnight, and have been designed and standardized to have beds, cabinets and supplies all located in the same places to improve nurse and physician efficiency. The expansion is intended to upgrade overall patient services, and improve efficiency for hospital staff, according to Estvold in a recent statement.

“Great effort has been taken by the leadership of the hospital to include input from the entire team to guide the design and end use of the new space,” said Holt. The addition is two levels with the bottom level open for future expansion and the upper level for full use as patient rooms and supporting services, according to Holt.

The new wing will also be more energy-efficient with a lighting system that emulates the natural light from outside. Additionally, a variable refrigerant flow heat pump system is being installed by Coffman Engineers in Seattle, consultant to HDR Architecture on the project. The pump system will reduce the hospital’s energy use by 40 percent annually, and the combination of these sustainability measures will cut hospital energy costs by one third, according to Duncan Griffin, sustainable principal at HDR.

The hospital will receive an energy rebate from Puget Sound Energy in Bellevue, according to Griffin. Additionally, students with the University of Washington’s Integrated Design Lab in Seattle are tracking the project to gauge energy savings. “It’s been a goal for a long time to bring hospital energy performance to a more reasonable level,” said Griffin. “Hospitals are huge consumers of energy which can have a negative impact on the community. With the installation of good solar shading and a high efficiency mechanical system, we can achieve this, and conserve community resources in doing so.”

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