Anne DiNardo

Last year marked a transformation in the push for greater transparency in building materials, with the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) introducing its new LEED v4 standard that includes credits for building product reporting and disclosure.

The stage is set for designers and manufacturers to talk about product content and material disclosure like never before.

I recently talked with Brendan Owens, vice president of LEED technical development for the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), about how the LEED rating system is helping to drive that discussion. Here's an excerpt from our discussion:

Can something as simple as a curved doorway or undulating roof line on the exterior of a healthcare facility trigger a fear response in patients?

Last summer, Building Trust International, a Brighton, England-based nonprofit that uses design to address global issues, was constructing a new medical dispensary for a rapidly growing diabetic population in Siem Reap, Cambodia—a project that inspired its leaders to see mobile health clinics as a way to improve access to care for some of the most densely populated and poorest parts of the planet.

Healthcare organizations are demanding more information and data in the pre-design stages of projects.

While architects and designers have an array of tools at their disposal to help provide that information in a timely manner, Vincent Della Donna, director of healthcare services, Gannett Fleming Architects and Engineers (Camp Hill, Pa.), says there’s one he’d like to see more people using: simulation modeling.

The Toronto Birth Centre is a pilot project that emerged from a recent initiative to shift non-acute health services out of the hospital setting and into community-based healthcare centers.

In Ontario, more than three-quarters of women cared for by midwives have hospital births, while the rest choose to deliver at home. The midwife-run Toronto Birth Centre was created to offer a third option for woman with low-risk pregnancies who want a natural, out-of-hospital childbirth.

Eye Physicians of Austin had been in its current location in central Austin, Texas, for more than 35 years and had outgrown the space. Rather than relocating, the team decided to build a contemporary facility on its existing property.

The new pedestrian-oriented structure would be located along the street, housing the ophthalmology practice on the second floor and retail and restaurant space on the glass-encased ground level.

Completion date: May 2013

Total building area: 75,600 sq. ft. conditioned space; 6,500 sq. ft. mechanical penthouse

Total construction cost: $28.8 million

Cost/sq. ft.: $350

Owner: Seton Healthcare Family

Architecture: Polkinghorn Group Architects Inc.

Landscape architect: TBG Partners

Interior design: Obrentz Design Group

Contracting: The Beck Group

Civil Engineer: Bury

Structural: Datum Engineers Inc.

MEP Engineer: CCRD Partners  

Commissioning agent: ACR Engineering

In 2007, Dell Children’s Medical Center of Central Texas opened what would earn the U.S. Green Building Council’s (USGBC) first LEED Platinum certification under the rating system’s new construction category.

Earlier this year I wrote about the evolution of waiting rooms and how these spaces have gone from simply a room with rows of chairs to warm, comfortable environments that are as important to patient and family satisfaction as they are to branding.

OR 360, a project conducted jointly by Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and the U.S. military, aims to streamline and improve trauma care in the crucial first hour of emergency medical treatment by reconfiguring the surgical suite.

“Pretty bold, isn’t it,” says Jim May, executive vice president and COO, Catholic Health Partners, talking about the colorful tile exterior adorning the new Mercy Health West hospital on the west side of Cincinnati.