Earlier this year as the World Health Organization was declaring that the countries hit hardest by Ebola—Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone—had zero reported cases for at least 42 days, another infectious disease was making daily headlines around the globe: Zika virus. At times like these, it’s easy for infectious disease control to be a hot topic among healthcare providers and designers.
Before Juliana Children’s Hospital opened in June 2015 as part of the new The Hague Hospital, Dutch firm MVSA Architects (a member of building consortium VolkerWesselsHaga) sought to enrich its architectural and interior design with a “finishing touch” that would create a positive distraction for young patients and their families.
Owner: Alder Hey Children’s NHS Foundation Trust
Completion date: Oct. 2, 2015
Total building area (sq. ft.): 645,834, plus 1,200-space garage
Total construction cost: $236 million
Cost/sq. ft.: $3940
Architecture: BDP Ltd.
Interior design: BDP Ltd.
Contracting: Laing O’Rourke
Engineering: Hoare Lea (MEP), WSP (structures)
Construction: Laing O’Rourke
Art/pictures: Lesley Greene (art consultant), Lucy Casson (lead artist)
AV equipment/electronics/software: BT
Carpet/flooring: Tarkett, Desso
In 2010, Alder Hey Children’s Hospital in Liverpool, England, was feeling some growing pains. Over the years, several additions had been made to the 100-year-old campus’s two- and three-story buildings, creating inefficient and labyrinth-like circulation routes. This development was largely fueled by an evolution in demand for specialty services in the pediatric market, with Alder Hey seeing the most activity in the areas of cardiac and neuroscience care.
In 2011, California State University Northridge (CSUN) in Northridge, Calif., conducted a survey to evaluate the health of its students and found the two top health concerns affecting academic performance were stress and lack of sleep.
In this series, Healthcare Design asks leading healthcare design professionals, firms, and owners to tell us what’s got their attention and share some ideas on the subject.
Jeff Nicholas is director of healthcare at Tocci Building Companies (Woburn, Mass.) and has 30 years of experience in medical construction and management. Here, he shares his thoughts on how the integration and convergence of technology, project delivery teams, and tracking tools are impacting facility design.
It’s one of the most reflective times—As another year wraps up, we look back to see how far we’ve come before turning our attention to what lies ahead.
To gather some industry perspectives, I reached out to Healthcare Design's Editorial Advisory Board members and asked for their thoughts on where the industry made strides in 2015 and what they hope to see on the horizon in 2016.
This intelligent bunch always has a lot to say and they didn't disappoint with the opportunity to make their own "best of" list for the year.
Name: Gail Vittori
Award: 20 Making A Difference, 2007
Then and now: Co-director, Center for Maximum Potential Building Systems (Austin, Texas)
Name: Nicholas Watkins
Award: The HCD 10: Researcher, 2013
Then and now: Director of research, BBH Design (Raleigh, N.C.)
Name: Blair L. Sadler
Award: Most Influential People in Healthcare Design, 2009
Then and now: Senior fellow, Institute for Healthcare Improvement (La Jolla, Calif.)
Name: Bruce Raber
Award: Most Influential People in Healthcare Design, 2009 and 2010
Then: Senior fellow, Institute for Healthcare Improvement (La Jolla, Calif.)
Now: Architect, vice president, practice leader for health and wellness, Stantec (Vancouver, British Columbia)
Name: Derek Parker
Award: Most Influential People in Healthcare, 2009 and 2010
Then: Director emeritus, Anshen+Allen (San Francisco and London; now part of Stantec Architecture)
Now: Founder and chairman, PCI (Tiburon, Calif.)
