After recently acquiring two community hospital sites, Loyola Medicine in Maywood, Ill., needed to consolidate its lab services and centralize supply inventory to provide just-in-time inventory control for the now larger healthcare system. The resulting 30,000-square-foot renovation co-locates various lab facilities to allow sharing of equipment and provide automation of processes for increased efficiency and accuracy.

The HED (Chicago) design team utilized existing vacant floors of an emergency medical services building on the Loyola University Medical Center main campus for relocation and consolidation of the separate, existing lab spaces. The expanded lab area also offered an opportunity for the system to acquire several new pieces of automated equipment that had previously been unavailable to the laboratory and pathology teams.

The architectural design approach created an open lab environment with strong access to daylight for all users within the lab. By removing partitions and barriers from the space plan, the perimeter glazing became an amenity for all users, instead of only those working on exterior benches.

The new lab is also located adjacent to administration spaces, helping to execute the work with better safety while also providing on-site efficiency.

 

Project details:

Facility name: Loyola Medicine Consolidated Laboratory

Location: Maywood, Ill.

Completion date: May 2021

Owner: Loyola Medicine

Total building area: 30,000 interior renovation

Total construction cost: $7.9 million

Cost/sq. ft.: $263/sq. ft.

Architecture firm: HED

Interior design: HED

General contractor: Leopardo Construction

Engineering: TLC Engineering Solutions (MEP)