I'm no expert on seating, but I know what I like. I have a feeling most readers will agree with me that you know whether a chair is a “friendly sit” within seconds of sitting on it. Does it hold you firmly but comfortably, inviting you to linger a while? Or is it...
The healthcare industry has experienced drastic changes in the past few years. Nursing and other staff shortages, combined with an aging population and continually rising life-expectancy rates, have pushed the demand for caregivers well past the supply available. As a...
Who would have imagined 10 years ago, when industry experts were predicting the downsizing of the inpatient hospital, that 2005 would bring a boom in construction of bed towers? Besides the increased need for beds in many markets, the obsolescence of the hospital...
Advances in healthcare are occurring at an awesome rate. A hospital's design must keep up with changing technology, as well as the attitudes of staff and patients. One example is the design of operating rooms and their associated space as minimally invasive surgery...
As trees start to show their new growth, bulbs begin to peek their way up from the thawing winter ground, and daylight hours grow longer, signaling the end of the “gray season,” I feel a sense of rebirth. All organizations go through growing pains. Having been with...
Client: The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center
Architecture: KMD Architects (structural shell and core); FKP Architects, Inc. (programming, medical planning, interior design, equipment and space planning)
Photography: Hedrich Blessing, Geoffrey Lyon
Opened: March 2005
Total Project Area: 780,000 sq. ft. (includes 590 examination rooms, 75 chemotherapy beds)
Total Cost: $366.4 million
Cost/Sq. Ft.: $470
On December 2, 2005, junior and senior Texas A&M University Architecture students unveiled 14 different design concepts for a 269,000-square-foot medical building emphasizing sustainability and patient access. The presentations took place at the Dallas...
Over the past decade, increasing attention has been focused on the principles of sustainable, high-performance green building design and construction as a solution to the well-documented, significant environmental effects of the conventional construction, operation,...
Low-E glass PPG Industries presents Solarban® 70XL glass, a new solar control low-E glass that offers solar control and visible-light transmittance with a transparent, color-neutral appearance. In a standard one-inch insulating glass unit, Solarban 70XL has a solar...
The current movement toward all-private inpatient rooms has been largely cheered by patients, caregivers, and designers. But is a 100% private configuration necessarily the best plan for all units? Do semiprivate rooms still have a place in the healthcare industry's...
Lust over three years ago, Nevada Cancer Institute (NVCI) was little more than an idea shared by a small group led by husband and wife Jim and Heather Murren. Both of their families had been touched by cancer, and each saw an immediate need to help Nevada create what...
The primary source of floor vibration that disrupts the function of sensitive laboratory equipment is building occupants’ walking down corridors. This article outlines measures can help planners and design teams minimize objectionable vibrations.
