Leo A Daly Designs Abu Dhabi Hospital

ABU DHABI, UAE — Omaha, Neb.-based Leo A Daly completed the design for the new 300-bed, 1.25 million-square-foot Zayed Military Hospital campus that will serve all branches of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The design features a 260-bed medical/surgical hospital, a 40-bed psychiatric hospital, a women’s services building, security facilities, a mosque and a utility plant.

Leo A Daly served as the design architect and engineer, partnering with Abu Dhabi-based AE7, which served as the architect and engineer of record.

The facility’s design was inspired by the canyons scattered throughout the lowlands of the regional landscape. The campus buildings mimic the curvature of the canyon walls, while roadways and paths wind in the same way that mountain floods carve rock formations within the canyons. The hospital building is also specifically located at the high point of the site, which represents a location for nurturing and healing in several cultures.

The design team is using advanced building information modeling techniques to enhance coordination, visually represent data, program the geometry of the buildings, perform daylighting analysis, create building material models, and select locations for mechanical and electrical systems.

The new hospital replaces a 45-year-old facility in downtown Abu Dhabi. Scheduled for completion in 2016, Zayed Military Hospital will serve as a teaching hospital that focuses on specialties such as cardiology, orthopedics, pediatrics and burn care. It will support and share services with Maliha Military Hospital, which is also under construction and anticipated to open in 2014.

Future expansions to the Zayed Military Hospital will include additional residential accommodations, parking structures, a separate utility plant, a hotel for patient visitors, rehabilitation and long-term care facilities, and on-site recreational facilities.

This Leo A Daly’s largest-ever international health care project.