A local landmark for world-class care

Growing ICU volumes and high bed use reaching capacity rates in the existing ICU, surgical suites, and emergency department led Advocate Healthcare to commission the design of the new patient tower at Advocate Christ Medical Center.

By Advocate Christ Medical Center, East Patient Tower, Oak Lawn, Ill. July 20, 2016

Growing intensive care unit (ICU) volumes and high bed use reaching capacity rates in the existing ICU, surgical suites, and emergency department led Advocate Healthcare to commission the design of the new patient tower at Advocate Christ Medical Center. This solution was initially identified as part of a master plan and Emergency Department (ED) optimization assessment conducted by our Advisory Services team. Working within physical, programmatic, and municipal constraints, the new patient tower is a landmark that articulates the main entrance for inpatient services and creates intuitive connectivity to buildings across the campus. Housing a birthing center, state-of-the-art operating rooms, and critical care units that optimize care processes, the new patient tower further advances Advocate Healthcare’s reputation of providing world-class care to local communities.

The entire patient journey reflects the priority Advocate Healthcare places on supporting and celebrating local families while providing the best possible care. Upon entry, the expansive lobby is designed to help orient visitors and intuitively connect to the corridors of other buildings on campus. On patient floors, Cerner CareAware Connect technologies and dedicated space for education and teaching support residents and staff. These floors also use a decentralized nursing model that facilitates views of every patient and shortens staff travel distances. The patient-room design reflects an evolution of the Advocate Healthcare patient-room standard that accommodates flexibility of program needs for the future. In patient rooms for the ICUs for medical, vascular/thoracic, and cardiac care, eICU technology facilitates remote patient monitoring. Throughout the building, places of respite, such as family lounges and the cafeteria, benefit from exceptional daylighting and views. Providing easy access for laboring patients, the labor and delivery unit is directly connected to the parking garage.

Our team used a hybrid integrated lean project delivery (ILPD) model where we engaged early trade-involvement partners from Day One of the design process. These consultants assisted in design and pricing of the various building systems, allowing us to provide Advocate Healthcare with options that optimized system design value and included long-term value analysis with accurate trade pricing to achieve higher value for the project. It also helped us identify clash-detection issues and expedite the design process by working through architectural details in real time. The new LEED for health care process demanded greater rigor by both our team and Advocate Healthcare to understand how design decisions impact human health and wellness. The new building uses 28% less water than a typical hospital in Illinois, achieves $259,000 in energy savings annually over code and baseline, and facilitates 54% daylight autonomy. LEED HC Silver is the project target.

A stately oak tree that created an inviting outdoor space on the original site served as a source of inspiration for our team for the planning and design of the new tower. While the exterior curtain wall alludes to the organic patterns found in nature, the core of the building provides structural support to all floors as well as houses the primary vertical circulation that brings people, resources, and supplies to the rest of the facility. The nursery, staff support spaces, and education spaces are also found in this central location, reinforcing its role as the hub for the primary function of the building: patient and family care and support. Branching out from this core are the spaces that hold the patient rooms. Wood tones and warm, natural materials used throughout these spaces further support the overall concept while still fully integrating with the existing materials used in other areas of the campus.

-This article originally appeared on www.cannondesign.com. CannonDesign is a CFE Media content partner.