The PDC Summit is an industry event coordinated by a network of nonprofit organizations with expertise in health care planning, design and construction. Hosts for the event included the American Institute of Architects (AIA), American College of Healthcare Architects (ACHA), American Society for Healthcare Engineering (ASHE), American Hospital Association (AHA) and Facility Guidelines Institute (FGI).

Teams involved in three hospital projects earned this year’s Vista Awards, which were presented at the PDC Summit. The Vista Awards, presented by ASHE, recognize the significance of collaboration in creating optimal health care environments. Winners exemplified outstanding teamwork in all stages of their respective health care projects, from pre-planning to the final reveal.

The winners included:

New Construction

Baystate Medical Center’s Hospital of the Future
Springfield, Mass.
Baystate Medical Center has reached the halfway point in its 15-year construction master plan. The recent 630,000-square-foot campus expansion includes an inpatient bed replacement, adult and pediatric emergency department and trauma center, a heart and vascular center, surgery expansion, private patient rooms and new parking facilities. The design facilitates multidisciplinary care with a clear separation of public and patient flow from staff and supply movement. The result is a state-of-the-art building, which includes two seven-story wings and one five-story wing, focused on a patient-centered healing environment.

Renovation

Mercy Hospital St. Louis’s 2nd Floor Women’s Health Center
St. Louis
This project involved the design and construction of an entirely new infrastructure and unit layout within the original 1962 building. Three wings on the second floor of a seven-story patient tower were gutted for the project while lean design concepts were analyzed and instituted for the new unit. Decentralized nurse stations, standard equipment and placement within the patient floors, and standard support room layouts on each wing have improved operational workflow. ASHE recognized team members for this project for keeping the project on track despite unexpected plumbing issues and other speed bumps along the way.

Infrastructure

South Georgia Medical Center’s Power Plant Replacement
Valdosta, Ga.
The center’s original power plant from the 1950s was recently replaced with a modern plant designed to provide emergency power for the SGMC Main Campus as well as the new Dasher Memorial Heart Center and Patient Tower. The new power plant houses 42 miles of cables and conduit. When the power plant’s large diesel generators are fired up, the system uses 180 gallons of diesel fuel per hour to operate key systems within the hospital. ASHE recognized the innovation of the new plant.

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The inaugural Legacy Project Awards, organized by the American College of Healthcare Architects (ACHA), honors health care architecture that has and continues to demonstrate superior planning and excellence in design performance over an extended period of time. A five-person jury decides on the recipient of the annual award.

“A legacy is a gift that is passed down from one generation to another. A health care building that exhibits high-quality designs and encourages high-performance functioning with minimal upkeep is a legacy to those who inherit the building,” said Connie McFarland, FAIA, FACHA, president of the ACHA, in a statement.

The jury found that Griffin Hospital was ahead of its time, and the facility’s North Wing has required virtually no changes due to the hospital’s forward-thinking design. The consistent and innovative design of Griffin Hospital ensures that there are no “haves” and “have nots,” according to jurors. The S/L/A/M Collaborative of Glastonbury, Conn., served as the architect of record for Griffin Hospital.

“Griffin represents an extraordinary translation of a culture and philosophy into a design. Its legacy is that Griffin successfully demonstrates how a project can directly and positively influence human behavior,” said ACHA Juror Philip E. Tobey, FAIA, FACHA, senior vice president of Detroit-headquartered SmithGroup, JJR.

The DHMC integrated a medical school, hospital, clinic and the co-located Veteran’s Administration to serve their patients. The facility has maintained patient focus through a 65 percent increase in surgical cases and a 40 percent increase in admissions. W. Mason Smith III is the architect of record for the health care facility.

The inaugural awards were given to two very different projects and jurors hope that this conveys a meaning to future nominees.

"We felt that this sends a message that any project can be worthy of this award. We don’t want to make a habit of it but did want to demonstrate that both large and small projects could merit consideration, as well as projects that aged differently could demonstrate lasting impact,” said ACHA Juror David Allison, FAIA, FACHA, director of Graduate Studies in Architecture + Health at Clemson University.

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