Project category: Project in progress (December 2007)

Chief administrator: Dennis Dowling, Senior VP and COO, (718) 474-7764

Firm: Larsen Shein Ginsberg Snyder, LLP, (212) 803-0300

Design team: David Ginsberg, FAIA, Partner-In-Charge; Jonathan Miller, AIA, Design Partner (Larsen Shein Ginsberg Snyder, LLP); Civil Engineer, Vollmer & Associates; MEP/Fire Protection Engineers, Flack & Kurtz, Inc.; Structural Engineer, Selnick/Harwood

Illustration: © M.P. O’Beirne Architectural Illustration; © Thomas W. Schaller Architectural Design + Presentation Services

Total building area (sq. ft.): 18,000 (new); 14,000 (renovation)

Construction cost/sq. ft.: Not released

Total construction cost (excluding land): Not released

The Emergency Department modernization project is critical to redefining the “front door” and quality of care for a majority of the hospital’s admitted patients. Statistically, more than 60% of the hospital inpatient population is admitted following an ED visit. The design solution creates a completely new and functionally efficient ED that will help the hospital make a good first impression on those patients who have the misfortune of entering the hospital through this portal.

The new department will be able to accommodate 60,000 visits per year in 32,000 square feet of space. The majority of new construction will address the deficiencies in the clinical adult treatment areas, waiting, triage, and the administrative functions.

The patient walk-in entry and waiting area will be expanded into a two-story, light-filled lobby with living-room-style waiting spaces, each having views and access to contemplative outdoor space. The adult treatment area will have private observation, exam, and treatment modules. Patients arriving with the most severe conditions will be treated in a critical care treatment area, with two trauma rooms, a resuscitation room, and four adult treatment modules. This area is immediately adjacent to the ambulance and walk-in entry. A decontamination room and isolation suites, located along the perimeter of the building and directly accessible to the ambulance dock, will serve the patient population exposed to or suspected of being exposed to biological or chemical substances. Administration space will be addressed with the construction of a new Management Suite to be located on the floor below the treatment area.