KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Interdisciplinary architecture and design firm Hoefer Wysocki, based in Kansas City, announced the completion of the two-story, 38,904-square-foot Saint Luke’s clinic located in Kansas City on March 1. Built with sustainability, flexibility and efficiency in mind, the LEED Silver–certified facility provides access to diagnostic and treatments services to allow multiple health care options to be offered to the community.

Saint Luke’s Clinic specialties include urology, cardiology, orthopedics, family medicine and a rotating specialty, with imaging, pharmacy, and lab facilities also available. The comprehensive imaging capabilities include X-ray, DXA (Dual-Energy X-ray Absorptiometry) scan, mammogram, ultrasound, CT, and MRI.

“There is such a diversity of services at this new clinic,” said Ashely Eusey, an associate at Hoefer Wysocki. “The imagining wing is extensive, the pharmacy and blood draw are state of the art, and there are so many different specialties for patients to choose from.”

A major goal of the design team was to achieve efficiency. The modular units were arranged to allow doctors and technicians to reach patient rooms quicker. This design aspect creates self-supporting departments since all major necessities are provided at each space. This will ultimately reduce the amount of time patients spend waiting to be seen by doctors and specialists.

This diversity is also met with the appropriate amount of infrastructure to accommodate such specialized needs. The reception desk is built to hold great patient volume, with the option of self-check-in kiosks if the many receptionists are busy. From the main waiting room, each specialty has their own waiting area and checkout desk to keep patients moving through.

“It’s a well-oiled machine that has so many services to offer but it doesn’t feel that way. The interior has warm inviting colors and plenty of windows creating an alluring atmosphere,” said Eusey. “It doesn’t feel cold or sterile or like you are being rushed. In my humble opinion, I believe it is the best of all aspects of healthcare.”

To meet the design team’s sustainability goals for the project, the clinic features extensive indoor air quality measures, specifying low-emitting building material and flexibility of thermal and lighting controls adding to the overall patient experience. The design team used recycled materials, energy-efficient equipment and decreased construction waste to reduce the impact on the environment. The project site is well landscaped with walking paths located around the clinic and is close in proximity to the local shopping district, effectively uniting the clinic to the surrounding community.

“St. Luke’s as an organization has a commitment to the environment and the community it interacts with,” said Eusey. “The facility manager, Mark Brooks, was open to discussion on sustainable practices, which is key in promoting this in design. He and I even drafted some ongoing policies to ensure this clinic stays up to date in regards to maintaining a healthy indoor and outdoor environment.”

This collaboration became key to finding the best possible solutions within budget and schedule. By integrating the equipment planners, engineers, owner, contractor and other related parties in design, the team was able to discover better ways to create a sustainable building. “I would point to this as a key part of our silver rating in LEED,” stated Eusey.

Eusey also explained that building such a diverse facility creates many hurdles, with one of the biggest being preserving user content. The needs of a pharmacist are not necessarily the same as the needs of a cardiologist, a technician or a nurse — merging all of these very important requests into one clinic was a challenge.

“My hats off to both the Principal-in-Charge Jim Stearman and Project Manager Dennis O’Roark for taking some many visions and creating one cohesive unit,” said Eusey. “My conversations with the staff have been positive and at the open house, the general public was blown away by the variety of options and ease of accessibility. It’s a testament to the work they did early on in design to get all parties on board, moving in the same direction.”

Saint Luke’s will also include new and advanced imaging equipment. For example, the X-ray machine is an intelligent machine that is controlled and maneuvered via IPAD. It even gives the one controlling it suggestions on where the camera should be placed for the best picture given the body part being scanned. Alongside X-ray, the facility also has MRI, CT, Dexa, Mammography, and Ultrasound — all cutting-edge machines. The pharmacy and blood-draw departments also have entirely new equipment.

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AUSTIN, Texas — SmithGroupJJR announced the opening of its newly designed, Travis County Medical Examiner’s Office, in Austin, Texas on Jan. 22, 2018. The $28 million building is 52,000-square-feet and stands three times larger than the prior facility, with a design striving to bring public awareness to forensic sciences, featuring the latest technological advancements in the industry with flexibility for future changes, as well as environmental consciousness, all inside a premier work environment.

SmithGroupJJR created a design to help provide for advanced investigation, morgue, autopsy, and laboratory spaces. Having only three autopsy stations at the previous location, this modern, two-story building holds a total of nine autopsy stations, a significant increase which is expected to allow the forensic team to effectively manage their caseloads.

“This new state-of-the-art facility allows us to use the most advanced technologies and efficient processes to provide high-quality medicolegal death investigation,” J. Keith Pinckard, M.D., Ph.D., Chief Medical Examiner for Travis County said in a statement.

In addition to the function and workflow improvements, SmithGroupJJR’s design delivers a civic building which bears an iconic presence and a robust, urban edge on the street. A prominent front door greets families and visitors, while staff has their own secure front door, a shaded terrace, and garden outside of an investigations suite. The staff also benefit from the interior design with plentiful natural light and open space, with views of the surrounding outdoor landscape.

“Nine times out of ten, medical examiner offices are unfortunately in dark and windowless, fortress-like buildings.  For Travis County’s new facility, we wanted employees to have an ideal, highly secure, world-class work environment while the building enhances Austin’s street life and embraces high-performance, green design,” said SmithGroupJJR Design Director Mark Kranz, FAIA, LEED AP BD+C, who served as design principal for the project.

Added Kranz, “When a building’s design accomplishes these goals, it naturally becomes a representative of community pride.  In this case, we’re confident the new building will bring positive public awareness to forensic science. We feel the new Travis County Medical Examiner’s office will elevate the expectation of what a forensic facility can and should be.”

The new office comes with the latest advances in technology and is one of only a few medical examiner’s offices in North America to have a computed tomography (CT) scanner. This gives pathologists the option to conduct a CT scan to either augment or in some cases, even supplant an autopsy. Other new features include larger labs for the office’s toxicology group and five observation decks above the autopsy rooms.  Visiting families are also provided with their own private waiting rooms.

An important aspect taken into consideration while creating the ideal Medical Examiner’s office was designing a flexibly functioning building, with the ability to adjust to the ever-changing needs of space and technology. Travis County anticipates a 40 percent population growth in the next 30 years, which is expected to result in a need for higher capacity.

Travis County Medical Examiner Office Adapts for Forensic Scientists

“The building is designed to adapt with the changing needs of its forensic scientists, doing so without slowing down their work,” said SmithGroupJJR Director of Laboratory Planning Adam Denmark, AIA, LEED AP BD+C.

For example, lab benches, and instrumentation are mobile and can be reconfigured as casework needs change. Storage capacity in the morgue can double by changing the storage strategy. A combined receiving and releasing body cooler space with a moveable barrier can adjust with capacity needs.

The building is not only finding ways to sustain operations throughout evolved technology, but it also aims to sustain environmental protections, targeting its LEED Silver certification. According to a statement, to support the county’s sustainability initiatives, progressive energy and water conservation strategies were incorporated into SmithGroupJJR’s holistic design.

Other green design features include highly efficient mechanical and electrical systems that will minimize energy usage such as LED lighting and daylight harvesting controls, air handling units that serve both office and laboratory zones allowing outside air to ventilate the laboratories, and laminar flow diffusers in autopsy spaces to increase effectiveness and reduce airflow.

The Travis County Medical Examiner’s new office is located at 7723 Springdale Road, Austin, in east Travis County. The old office at 1213 Sabine Street in downtown Austin is being renovated into the Austin-Travis County Sobriety Center.

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MILTON, Ont. — Toronto-based PCL Constructors Canada Inc. recently announced the final phase of the Milton District Hospital (MDH) project expansion in December 2017, signifying the project’s completion. The $512 million expansion began June 2015 and achieved substantial completion in April 2017, with Halton Healthcare providing patient care in the new space as early as Oct. 1, 2017.

A major challenge was allowing the remaining MDH to continue to serve the community during construction, which was key to the success of the expansion. It was built to meet the increasing care needs of one of Canada’s fastest growing communities and to accommodate new technology. PCL Toronto District Manager Kelly Wallace explained how the efficiency of this project demonstrates exemplary collaborative success, according to a statement.

“Milton District Hospital expansion project is a case study for design-build excellence,” said Wallace. “Achieving total completion within seven months of substantial completion on a project of this scope speaks volumes about the collaboration and respect exhibited by all partners, which was a critical success factor in achieving this tremendous outcome for the people of Milton.”

With an air-tight, 25-month design-build schedule executed on an active hospital site, more than 40 PCLers influenced an outstanding safety culture that sent more than 600 tradespeople home safely every day, with more than 1.2 million hours worked without a lost time injury (LTI).

The MDH project brings expanded emergency and surgical services, medical/surgical inpatient units, critical care, maternal newborn and diagnostic imaging, and support services to the community. The hospital’s capacity increased from 63 to 129 inpatient beds, including 80 percent single-patient rooms for improved infection prevention and control and increased patient privacy in a quieter healing environment. A level 2A Special Care Nursery with capacity for eight bassinets in the Maternal Newborn Unit is included as well as the hospital’s first Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) machine.

With these additions, patients will have increased access to healthcare services, with a unit layout that puts equipment, supplies and staff closer to the patient, enabling more direct care time with patients. MDH facilities will also encourage the participation of family and friends, including pull-out sleeper beds inside patient rooms to allow a family member to stay overnight with their loved one, along with available room-service delivery on most inpatient units that enables patients to order meals by telephone from their hospital room.

The expansion comes along with the implementation of new technological systems, including an electronic patient tracking system to manage each patient’s records from the moment they arrive as well as wireless handheld devices that allow staff to communicate with both systems and people. The hospital will now use reliable networks to support clinical, communications, security, environmental, building and back office systems. The hospital is pursuing its LEED Silver certification with a sustainable building strategy, holding a mechanical design of the hospital optimizes energy usage by incorporating energy-efficient design and maximizing equipment efficiency.

Key partners of the project included Halton Healthcare (owner); Plenary Group (project sponsor, equity investor, financial arranger); PCL Constructors Canada Inc. (design-builder; Toronto); Johnson Controls (facilities manager); B+H Architects and RTKL Associates (architect); Smith and Andersen (mechanical/electrical consultant); and WSP (structural consultant). MDH was constructed using Infrastructure Ontario’s Alternative Financing and Procurement model.

“Reaching final completion demonstrates another significant milestone for the Milton District Hospital project. Plenary remains incredibly proud of the collaborative working relationship we have with all the project partners, and we look forward to participating in the ongoing success of this facility,” said Angela Clayton, Plenary’s group head, Buildings Division, according to a statement.

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SAN JOSE, Calif. – Interdisciplinary architecture and design firm Hoefer Wysocki Architecture, of Leawood, Kan., completed construction of a 95,000-square-foot, three-story facility for the Veterans Affairs (VA) outpatient clinic in San Jose this January.

The $40 million facility will now provide much-needed services for veterans and their families, with a new ultra-modern, sustainable design created to offer what is being dubbed as a “healing oasis” for patients at the San Jose clinic. The design was originally inspired by the scenic views of the Santa Cruz mountains, with exterior wood veneer composite panels and transparent glazing aimed to connect patients and their families closer to the outdoors as well as offer better community access.

Veterans Affairs Clinic Process Started in 2016

The first floor includes general registration, imaging, a lab and a pharmacy as well as a mental health outpatient clinic, according to a statement. The second floor will be designed for outpatient services including primary care, audiology and speech pathology, podiatry, optometry and dermatology. It is rumored that audiology, podiatry, and optometry tools will arrive in time once the floors are ready, and the third floor will be dedicated to additional specialty services including a women’s health clinic.

With the project beginning in early 2016, Hoefer Wysocki worked on an accelerated schedule, having approximately 24 months to complete construction, implementing lessons learned from previous VA facilities. With the site located adjacent to the US 101 freeway, they faced challenges in trying to position the building to achieve maximum daylight and minimum noise pollution. Using a PACT module, the design team worked toward ensuring better sight of the clinic from the adjacent freeway, securing mountain views and maintaining an optimal orientation for passive solar design to meet LEED requirements while also maximizing overall functionality within the specified budget, according to a statement.

A modular floor plan separates patient and staff corridors, reducing noise and activity levels, and contributes to a calmer healing environment. Waiting areas adjacent to exterior glass walls provide a view of the area’s mountains and plentiful daylight. An outdoor terrace on the third level also offers a haven for retreat and relaxation for patients and their families as well as clinic staff.

“This facility is being designed as a ‘healing oasis’ with a park and outdoor recreational areas,” said Hoefer Wysocki Lead Designer Hosam Habib, AIA, in a statement. “The concept is based on incorporating air, light and space so the design becomes a part of the healing process for patients.”

The San Jose community-based clinic will implement new technological tools to help maintain its modern design, with a highly efficient mechanical system to meet building requirements, second-generation glazing for solar energy, a dimming lighting system, low-irrigation plans to reduce water consumption, a solar water heater, a kiosk check-in and Wi-Fi technology for patients and staff. These features will help the clinic work toward earning its LEED Silver certification.

In addition, the campus will feature a memorial park for visitors to properly honor and thank U.S. veterans. The clinic is scheduled for occupancy in the first quarter of this year.

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