LANSING, Mich. – Gresham Smith recently announced that construction is complete on McLaren Greater Lansing, the first facility on McLaren Health Care’s new campus in Lansing. Designed in partnership with national architecture/engineering firm, HED, the nine-story, 517,000-square-foot replacement hospital represents the largest one-time investment in McLaren Health Care history, replacing two existing hospital facilities with one state-of-the-art facility that advances patient care, comfort and convenience.

Designed to meet the needs of residents in Michigan’s capital city, and adjacent to Michigan State University, the new facility includes a Level III Trauma Center/Emergency Department, Orthopedic and Sports Medicine Institute, comprehensive cardiac programs, interventional platform with 20 operating rooms and medical/surgical unit. Intuitive wayfinding, as well as smart planning, help to clearly guide patients, visitors and others to the multitude of services offered.

“From our progressive approach of creating positive user experiences with access to natural light, inspiring environments, and intuitive wayfinding to creating state-of-the-art hybrid operating rooms, this greenfield hospital with set a new standard of highly advanced care in Michigan’s capital city,” said Healthcare Vice President Steve Stokes, AIA, CLGB, NCARB. “The Gresham Smith Team is proud of the collaborative work accomplished with our partners at McLaren Health Care.”

With a focus on human experience and patient safety, the hospital’s 240 private patient rooms feature personal temperature controls, expanded in-room entertainment options and large windows with views of the outdoors. A public cafeteria and community hub offers convenience for family members, staff and visitors, while a training center, simulation labs that support medical education, an expanded lounge and sleep rooms, elevate the staff experience. The design team enhanced operational efficiencies by limiting the travel distance between the emergency department and imaging services. McLaren Greater Lansing was designed and planned to have the ability to change course to respond to future situations that may occur with an adaptable and flexible platform of care.

“It is rare you find a collection of firms and individuals all committed and balanced to support the client’s goals and then deliver them,” said HED Healthcare Sector Leader David Jaeger, AIA, LEED AP, EDAC. “HED as architect and engineer of record and in partnership with Gresham Smith and as an entity working in a design-build contract have delivered value to McLaren not typically possible with standard contracting methods.  Many state-of-the-art technical systems were balanced with a budget and schedule that required constant care by all.”

The hospital was completed on-time and under budget, despite workforce and supply challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Using a factory fabricated ceiling rack system and exterior panels, the construction of the hospital’s enclosure met an aggressive schedule and required fewer contractors to be on site at one time. This also allowed direct connection with the project’s mechanical engineers and the sub-contractors who were brought in early on to discuss the placement of the buildings’ main systems.

“By combining the national expertise of Gresham Smith and HED with the talent of companies in Lansing and throughout Michigan, we assembled a unique team to design and build a healthcare campus that will care for our community for generations to come,” said Daniel Medrano, vice president of Facility Management for McLaren Health Care.

Gresham Smith is also designing and planning the adjacent 60,400 square-foot Medical Services Building on the McLaren Greater Lansing Hospital campus and the cancer center and proton therapy center expansion at McLaren Health Care’s hospital in Flint, Michigan.

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EAST LANSING, Mich. — McLaren Health Care has tapped Gresham Smith as the architect for their current collaboration with Michigan State University (MSU) in creating a new healthcare campus.

In addition to the development of a campus master plan, the firm is providing planning, architecture and interior design services for the new $451 million McLaren Greater Lansing Hospital, a replacement teaching hospital, medical office building and cancer center.

The new hospital consolidates two Lansing-area hospitals and will be built along with the 250,000-square-foot medical office building, 32,000-square-foot cancer center and parking structure on a 40-acre site.

The 517,000-square-foot, 240-bed, nine-story greenfield facility will house medical/surgical units, orthopedics, general surgery, labor and delivery, inpatient psychiatric, an intensive care unit, an emergency department and radiology.

“This project has been in the work for five plus years, and what we do is bring clarity to the very complex issues of hospital architecture” said Steve Stokes, the lead on the project. “We had to go through a heavy process, applying the LEAN approach while taking two, old existing hospitals, and combining them. We went through an entire brain storming session with the leadership and came up with project goals.”

The project goals Stokes described includes creating a destination of choice for employees, caregivers and the public; building a national benchmark in the delivery of evidence based care, while incorporating LEAN principles and safety; achieving the highest return on investments; transforming the experience for patients, their families and caregivers. And lastly, fostering a continuous environment of learning through clinical research and innovation.

“This bridges McLaren’s relationship with Michigan State University,” said Stokes.

Another key focus of the design stresses the importance of intuitive wayfinding.

“Every time you go to facilities in and around the country, we find this to be a hot topic of conversation when it comes to clarity on where to go,” said Stokes. “With this facility, we took that key component and made a strong central point of place, the lobby. When people enter the space, it always has the same orientation. If you go from the first floor up to the second floor, and you’re looking out the direction you came in from.”

Stokes continued, explaining how there is one avenue for public circulation that’s segregated from patient and staff circulation. It works as a process of moving patients forward versus sending them back—helping decrease wait time.

“Separation of flow was critical as well as access to natural light,” said Stokes. “The other key component is the 24-hour front door in the Emergency Department, has its own access, own security features and shutdown protocol. It has it’s ‘own flow’, per se.” 

Gresham Smith has teamed with Southfield-based Harley Ellis Devereaux who will be providing engineering services and is the architect-of-record for the new hospital.

When fully complete, this comprehensive health care campus will be home to more than 1,000 physicians, researchers, educators and other members of the academic and medical team.

“The thing I’m most proud of having worked on this project so far is the brotherhood of the owner, contactor, team, and everyone coming together to find the means to the end while using a tight budget—which will serve Lansing for the next 50 years,” said Stokes.

Groundbreaking of this new facility took place in December 2018 and the team anticipates the project will be completed by 2022.

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