DPR Construction of Redwood City, Calif., worked closely with Chicago-based Perkins+Will and Minneapolis-based HGA Architects to expand the facility. The expansion adds more than 500,000 square feet to the existing hospital and will include more advanced technologies using environmentally sensitive methods.

The teams worked together through a dense, congested site in a fully operational medical center to minimize disruptions to the facility and Stanford University. The project also included the relocation of existing on-site utilities and make-ready site work, demolition of two existing buildings, and expansion of the emergency generators and medical gas yards, as well as underground parking for a minimum of 430 cars.

The hospital was originally built in 1991 and included 312 beds in a 250,000-square-foot facility. It cost more than $100 million to build. The expansion will more than triple the size of the facility.

The expansion, which is targeting LEED Gold certification, aims to further the hospital’s mission of providing family-centered pediatric and obstetric care and will include 149 new hospital rooms, increased surgical and diagnostic suites and new treatment rooms. Sustainable designs for the new facility include on-site water collection, wind turbines, recycling infrastructure, electric vehicle charging stations and native plants in the outdoor gardens. Additionally, the expansion will provide more than three acres of outdoor areas and gardens for families, as it is believed that nature helps with the healing process.

New private patient rooms, will feature foldout double beds, closets, large TVs and private bathrooms to accommodate children’s families and visitors.

“We’re proud to celebrate this construction milestone and help further the hospital’s family-centered care, while providing the community with a facility that follows the latest green building practices,” said George Hurley, project director for DPR Construction, in a statement. “DPR is committed to combining experienced people, a collaborative methodology and custom tools to incorporate sustainability into all building development.”

The hospital is named after Lucile Packard, wife of HP cofounder David Packard. Lucile frequently volunteered for various efforts to improve the lives of children, and the David and Lucile Packard Foundation continues that mission today.

“The new hospital has been designed not only for our patients today, but also for what we anticipate will be their needs in the future,” hospital president and CEO Christopher G. Dawes, told HC+O News when builders broke ground on the new facility. “The new facility will incorporate the very latest medical technology while also providing more privacy and space for families to be with their sick child or pregnant spouse.”

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The long-awaited $150 million greenfield hospital was designed by Los Angeles-headquartered HMC Architects and constructed through a joint venture between DPR Construction, headquartered in Redwood City, Calif., and New York-headquartered Turner Construction Company. Working closely with the construction team and Universal Health Services (UHS), HMC used Lean principles to complete the project ahead of schedule and under budget.

“The most unique element of the project is the Lean process in which the project was delivered,” said Steven Wilson, principal with HMC Architects. “Numerous tools and processes exist to drive collaborative behavior down through multiple organizations in order to assure that everyone is sharing a common vision — and when used together, the tools form a system.”

Lean principles allow the owner, architect and contractor to participate in the design and decision-making process from the onset of the project, according to Wilson. The project also used an Integrated Project Delivery (IPD) for further collaboration and to optimize the project’s success.

“It has been documented that there is considerable waste in the construction industry,” said George Vangelatos, principal with HMC. “When Lean measures are coupled with IPD and applied to health care construction, the process can yield greater customer value while eliminating waste and it begins with the right team thinking about the project and not their own needs.”

An off-site “big room” was used as a meeting room for the project team to conduct problem-solving discussions. This open communication and dialogue throughout the design and construction process created a more efficient project with less rework, according to Wilson. The team also used the Last Planner System in order for all members of the team to make accurate commitments and not overproduce, which is seen as wasteful, Wilson said.

“The Temecula Valley Hospital project started with UHS, HMC Architects and a joint venture between DPR Construction and Turner Construction. We then evaluated other team members using the Choosing by Advantage technique to determine who would best fit in to the project’s Lean approach. This allowed the team to openly discuss the best method for getting something done and decisions were made to benefit the project rather than individual firms,” Wilson said. “Once the team was assembled, the focus was on establishing trust, learning, collaboration and innovation to deliver the best project possible. Ideas flowed from every team member and all were empowered to make decisions.”

The team’s ability to meet their responsibilities was reevaluated on a weekly basis for improvement or breakdown. This process, Wilson said, allowed the team to take out six months from the already aggressive schedule. Additionally, a 16-month acceleration was achieved though early collaboration with the Office of Statewide Planning and Development.

“The project team embraced Lean principles to break down the silos of traditional project delivery and required deep collaboration and teamwork. They all accepted the challenge to propel collaborative behavior down through the multiple organizations,” Wilson said. “The cooperation between team members drove down the project costs and fostered innovation, while meeting UHS’s efficiency and schedule goals.”

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The 80,000-square-foot, acute-care facility and 30,000-square-foot administration building was designed by HGA Architects and Engineers, with offices in Los Angeles, and will be constructed by DPR Construction, headquartered in Redwood City, Calif.
Construction will begin on the $80 million project in early 2014 with a tentative completion date of 2016. The project is aiming for LEED Silver certification.

Founded in 1902, the BRH lies just outside of downtown Los Angeles and adjacent to Elysian Park. Architects were charged with designing a building that did not appear as if it were built 100 years ago, but also to not disrupt the historic, park-like setting of the 25-acre campus.

“We could not retell the history but at the same time the building needed to say it was a brand new, state-of-the-art building and a new identity for Barlow,” said Satoshi Teshima, AIA, LEED AP, project designer with HGA.

The three-story building, which will replace the existing facility built in 1927, is also larger than the other structures on the campus. The architects decided on the size of the building because they wanted to blend in with smaller structures but also be significant enough to not be hidden in the background, Teshima said.

The structure of the building is a gentle S curve, which mimics the in and out motion of easy, flowing breathing. The design of the S curve developed from strategies in the planning process. As architects studied nursing pods, which occurred in eight-bed pods, a triangular or saw-tooted pattern began to develop, according to Joey Kragelund, AIA, principal with HGA.

“From there it started to refine itself as we started to learn more about the kind of care they provide and the softness of the S curve started to materialize,” Kragelund said.

The S curve also works with the topography of the site, which is situated against a hillside, and provides views of the surrounding natural scenery to all patient rooms. Additionally, the formation eliminates all sharp corners and does not disrupt the historic context of the campus.

“It was actually generated by planning with an overlay of the specific context in which this building is located in and that resulted in this soft S curve, which makes this building much more intriguing and also tells a great story about the act of breathing itself,” Teshima said.

The challenge to finding a balance on the exterior design of the building also occurred in the interior design, Teshima said. Because patients at BRH have an average stay of 30 days, the architects are creating an environment that is both clinical in function but organic and home-like in atmosphere.

“It has to feel warm and welcoming,” Teshima said.

The 48 all-private patient rooms are patterned after themes of “tide” and “metamorphosis” to symbolize the act of easy breathing while creating a serene, organic environment for patients and their families. The organic and warm tones of the interior materials were specifically used to evoke emotions of nature, Teshima said.

“If you can evoke that consciously or unconsciously it makes people more comfortable. At the end of the day, you might get bored looking at a certain image or a certain color, which happens to be a trend, but you’ll never get tired of looking at the ocean or the sunset,” Teshima said.

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The 1.5-acre hospital will rise to approximately 184-feet above the ground, and will have two stories built below the ground. The new facility will be attached to existing hospital buildings that will remain fully operational throughout the building process. The entire project will cost $350 million and include a new emergency department, 1,000-space parking structure and additional green space.

The project is also pursuing LEED certification and meets all requirements of the Green Guide for Health Care and Sustainability Practices.

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