LOUISVILLE, Ky.—SmithGroup, a leading integrated design firms, and AECOM, the well-established infrastructure consulting firm, recently celebrated the groundbreaking of the new VA Medical Center in Louisville.

The firms join the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), Louisville District to commemorate this milestone. With an area of over 972,000 square feet, the new $840 million medical center will replace the existing Robley Rex VA Medical Center.

The Louisville VA Medical Center will serve a population of more than 150,000 in Kentucky and southern Indiana, emphasizing a comprehensive approach to health by incorporating inpatient and outpatient services for expanded access to primary care, specialty, surgical, and mental health services. The 34-acre campus includes two parking structures, a central utility plant, and other site amenities. The Louisville VA Medical Center is anticipated to be completed in 2026.

“The design of the new medical center represents a journey of healing with honor,” said Cindy Pozolo, SmithGroup’s project manager and a principal at the firm’s Detroit office. “The landscape and the architecture echo the strength and courage of the people who have served our country with distinction.”

The new Louisville VA Medical Center has previously been recognized by the American Institute of Architects (AIA) Academy of Architecture for Health (AAH) and the Michigan Chapter of the AIA for its exceptional design. The architecture of the new medical center integrates a focus on sustainability, relationships to nature, and symbolism intrinsic to military life.

The facades of the medical center feature vertical patterning of metal panels and curtainwall, inspired by the colorful regalia of military ribbons, while horizontal striations reference the similar natural layering of limestone found in the surrounding Kentucky hills. The concourse and gardens are divided into four areas representing the milestones of a veteran’s service: join, bond, honor, and thank. The pair of parking structures are screened in copper-colored bowed and wire mesh panels, which frame a perforated screen emblazoned with a patriotic theme.

“It’s an honor to celebrate this groundbreaking on Veterans Day. Our entire design team acknowledges what a privilege it has been to work on this state-of-the-art healthcare facility,” said Randy Kirschner, AECOM’s project manager and a principal in its Columbus office. “We’re immensely proud to support the VA and USACE with integrated architecture and engineering services to help deliver a new medical center that will be of lasting benefit to our veterans for years to come.”

The Louisville VA Medical Center is designed to comply with the Government’s Guiding Principles for Sustainable Federal Buildings. It will include a large photovoltaic array that generates a portion of the center’s electrical energy, green roofs, water use reduction, and optimized energy performance. The biophilic design intertwines architecture and landscape, emphasizing the importance of nature in health and wellness. Key elements include terraces, ample green spaces, a contemplative courtyard, and a linear garden that sweeps the length of the center, connecting to a light-filled indoor concourse that joins a range of spaces with uses such as education, ceremony, dining, and respite.

With SmithGroup serving as primary design architect and AECOM serving as primary engineer, the joint venture firms collaborated closely to provide project management, architecture, interior architecture, medical planning, landscape architecture, and civil, structural, and MEP engineering during the design phases and will continue to provide services throughout the construction period.

URS/SmithGroup Joint Venture was formed in 2007 to provide integrated design services for the Louisville VA Medical Center project. AECOM acquired URS Corporation in 2014.

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GLEN ELLYN, Ill.—Alumni of the College of DuPage’s architecture school have briskly transformed the McCormick Place convention space into an ad hoc treatment facility for coronavirus patients. An announcement from the university, which is located in the western suburbs of Chicago, said that the work on the city’s convention center was completed in only two weeks due to the dedicated work of alumni as well as local assistance.

A fleet of hundreds of workers on the ground worked tirelessly on turning McCormick Place into a modern medical facility, with space to treat patients in some 2,250 individual rooms in the redesigned space.

Alumna Michelle Binet, who now works in Los Angeles for the global engineering firm AECOM, brought some of the design experience she has gleaned in her professional work to the project back in Illinois, where her alma mater is located. Binet prepared architectural drawings for the redesign of the convention space, as well as assisted with services including code reviews and managing accessibility for various areas of the building, including entry and exit cleaning rooms, staff lounges and medical locker rooms.

“My team and I, along with hundreds of others, including the Illinois National Guard and the Army Corps of Engineers, worked non-stop trying to get everything designed and constructed before the first wave of patients arrived,” Binot said in a news release from the university.

In addition, Binot’s team reconfigured meeting rooms inside the convention space so that support staff from the Chicago mayor’s office could be situated near a command center inside the new healthcare space.

The reconfigured convention center space was laid out in such a way that 3,000 beds would be available for treating covid-19 patients. The plans also entailed 500 “negative pressure” tents that keep air infected with coronavirus particles from escaping, as well as import clear air into the treatment rooms.

“Hopefully we won’t have to use all the beds and rooms available, but I’m glad to know we are helping patients who may need support,” Binot said. “I’ve never worked on a project quite like this. It has been incredibly rewarding to see a project come to fruition this quickly with the help of so many hardworking and passionate people.

Added architecture professor Mark Pearson: “We are very extremely proud of our Architecture alumni, like Michelle, who are using their professional expertise to make a difference in our communities and helping to support our healthcare system during this global crisis.”

“Let’s all do our part in flattening the curve and reduce [the] burden on the local healthcare systems,” Binot said.

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ROCKLAND, Ill. ­— Mercyhealth recently held an official ribbon cutting for the new Javon Bea Hospital and Physician Clinic–Riverside, inviting hundreds of guests to the ceremony.

Mercyhealth CEO and President, Javon Bea was joined by Mercyhealth Board Chairman Rowland “Rollie” McClellan, as well as Illinois State Senator Dave Syverson, Rockford Mayor Tom McNamara, Winnebago County Chairman Frank Haney, Rockford Chamber of Commerce President Einar Forsman, and Rockford Area Economic Development Council CEO Nathan Bryant, who all commended the economic benefits of Mercyhealth developing a new, state-of-the-art hospital in the region as well as continuing the operations of a hospital on Rockford’s west side.

“Whether it was Harvard or Janesville or Lake Geneva or all the other locations, when Mercy comes into that community, you can count on increased health care services, more staffing, more investments being made, and in each of those communities you see improved outcomes,” said Dave Syverson, who has sat on Mercyhealth’s board for 15 years.

Mercyhealth broke ground on the new, six-story, $505 million hospital and physician clinic on June 6, 2016.

Since that time, Bea said AECOM, Mortenson and all the contractors as well as Mercyhealth Vice President of Architecture and Facilities, Joanna Benning, who led the construction project, worked to ensure its timely progress.

“Today marks a very special moment as we formally dedicate and bless Mercyhealth’s Javon Bea Hospital and Physician Clinic–Riverside, which will be providing healing and life-saving services to the residents living in northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin,” said Mercyhealth President & CEO Javon R. Bea, whom the hospital’s board named the new facility after.

The newly constructed 563,000-square-foot hospital will house 194 beds and serve patients of all ages.

The hospital’s service offerings include a state-of-the-art women’s and children’s hospital, including high-level perinatal and neonatal intensive care units, and pediatric emergency services as well as high-risk maternity care, according to RrStarNews.

The campus will also provide the region with a high-level trauma center; an adult sub-specialty hospital to include plastic surgery in addition to brain and spine, endocrinology, orthopedics, pulmonology and heart services; operating suites and surgical services; a diagnostic center and physician-care clinics to serve adult and pediatric patients.

The project is on schedule to be begin receiving its first patients in January 2019.

Reports from Mercy Health and rrrstarnews.com contributed to this story.

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GRAND HAVEN, Mich. — Spectrum Health and Holland Hospital celebrated alongside leaders and other associated healthcare partners on March 1 for the grand opening of Health Pointe Clinic, a facility which provides convenient access and coordinated care to patients in northern Ottawa County and the lakeshore region. The opening drew nearly 3,000 people to the two-hour event, stunning both the community and healthcare officials alike.

Nearly four years ago, Spectrum Health and Holland Hospital signed an agreement to seek clinical collaborations, eventually working together to acquire this significant physical presence in the northwestern Ottawa County healthcare market. The opening of the Health Pointe facility marks a major milestone in the committed and long-term relationship between the two organizations, according to Spectrum Health’s Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Tina Freese Decker.

AECOM, with offices in Grand Haven, Mich., served as architect for the $50 million, 103,000-square-foot facility, working closely with the facility owner, as well as Spectrum Health’s planning and design team. Both worked to design a facility that guarantees optimal daylight and warmth in an attempt to develop a more calming atmosphere, helping the administration, patients and physicians to give and receive care in a restful environment. This did, however, become a challenging task considering that the team had to design within the extremely cold weather conditions of Michigan. It needed to withstand extreme cold, and have the ability to maintain warmth and achieve maximum daylight for the comfort of its occupants.

“It’s been scientifically proven that natural light enhances positive health outcomes in patients,” said David Warden, enerGfacade brand manager, YKK AP America Inc.

Initially, the biggest challenge was the curtain wall around the perimeter of the building due to the condensation resistance factor (CRF) requirements. “It is critical for healthcare facilities to reduce or to eliminate the potential condensation forming on non-porous surfaces, such as glazing and framing, to maintain a healthy environment for occupants,” explained Warden. “Studies have shown that viruses thrive in humidity ranges above 55 percent relative humidity and below 30 percent relative humidity. The ideal solution was to choose a curtain wall and sunshade solution that could provide a CRF capable of accommodating recommended humidity levels for healthcare facilities.”

Health Pointe hosts several medical specialists and provides services including primary and urgent care, a lab draw station, surgery center, pediatrics, radiology, endoscopy, orthopedics, general surgery, cardiology, audiology, urology, gastroenterology, colon and rectal surgery, and neurology.

Both Spectrum Health and Holland Hospital officials emphasized their shared mission of expanding local access and providing greater choices for high-quality, affordable healthcare while ensuring their shared commitment to their community.

Health Pointe Executive Director Joshua Troast closed the ribbon cutting by talking about his personal connection to this project. “My family and I are residents of this community, and I cannot even begin to tell you how proud I am to be standing here,” he said in a statement. “As a husband and a father, I want my family to have the opportunity to receive high-quality care close to where we live, work and play.”

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