MultiCare Medical Center

Expansion Includes Latest in Surgical Technologies

by Melody Finnemore

The four-story addition to Tacoma General Hospital is being built above an existing four-story structure that houses the hospital's emergency department, outpatient clinics and labs. Photo by Steve Keating for Skanska

A $42.7 million expansion of the MultiCare Medical Center in Tacoma, Wash., led Giffin Bolte Jurgens Architects on an international tour in search of the best design.

"We toured all over the country - we even ended up in Germany - looking at medical facilities to see the latest and greatest technologies," said Steve O'Shea, project designer and principal at the Portland, Ore., firm.

The result is a design that focuses on making the medical center's "L-Wing" as convenient, efficient and comfortable as possible for patients, visitors and staff.

Construction started in July 2002 on the project that will add 176,000 sq. ft. to Tacoma General Hospital on the MultiCare Medical Center campus. The four-story addition is being built above an existing four-story structure that houses the hospital's emergency department, outpatient clinics and labs. The existing structure was designed by Giffin Bolte Jurgens in 1994.

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When the expansion is completed in the spring, the fifth floor will house state-of-the-art adult and pediatric surgical suites. Floor six will house mechanical and interstitial space and structural trusses; seven will house vascular/heart surgery and CATH labs; the eighth floor will be reserved for future build-out.

"This project was unique because we've had to do it over the emergency department while it remains open," O'Shea said. "The contractor has done a great job of coordinating things around all of this scaffolding so it wouldn't interfere with any of the procedures or the ambulances that were coming and going."

Skanska USA Building of Seattle, the general contractor on the project, is no stranger to health-care projects, but Mark Howell, project executive, said there were some hurdles to clear.

"Anytime you add to an existing building it's always challenging, especially when you're talking about 24-7 operations," he said. "It's not uncommon in health care that you've got to work around these things."

Construction started in July 2002 on a project that will add 176,000 sq. ft. to Tacoma General Hospital on the MultiCare Medical Center campus. Rendering courtesy of Giffin Bolte Jurgens

The addition is steel frame with concrete shear walls and steel trusses at the interstitial floor. The exterior includes architectural precast concrete with glazing infill. Building the expansion in small phases throughout the evenings - and implementing a proactive communication plan - have helped the project run more smoothly, Howell said.

"We gave the staff and administration a lot of lead time so they could look at their schedules and help us figure out the best time for shutdowns," he added.

In addition, Skanska worked with MultiCare Medical Center's in-house engineering and epidemiology departments to ensure proper measures were taken regarding Infection Risk Control Assessment.

"I think we've really begun to understand the negative impacts of construction in these conditions, but also the positive steps we can take to minimize and eliminate those impacts," Howell said.

Giffin Bolte Jurgens sought to create the healthiest building possible, with design elements ranging from the hospital's ability to offer noninvasive surgical procedures to a layout that allows lots of natural light.

"Surveys are coming out all the time that talk about healing spaces and what that means," O'Shea said. "It means including natural sunlight, comfortable space for the family and, frankly, comfortable space for the staff."

Other design features include views of a nearby park and Mount Rainier, more expansive waiting areas for families and televisions in education conference rooms that allow appropriate staff members and visiting physicians to observe surgical procedures.

In an effort to provide a visual model for staff and surgeons, Giffin Bolte Jurgens incorporated computer 3-D modeling to create mock-up operating and recovery rooms that showed room layouts, equipment positioning and patient and staff workflow.

Fred Russell, senior construction manager for MultiCare Health Systems, which owns the facility, said the improvements are long overdue for a surgical hospital that was built in 1963.

"We've been limping along and we finally got to a point where we couldn't anymore," Russell said. "This project will allow us to provide the latest in modern technologies."

Project Team
Owner: MultiCare Health Systems, Tacoma, Wash.
General Contractor: Skanska USA Building, Seattle
Architect: Giffin Bolte Jurgens, Portland, Ore.
Structural Engineer: Putnam Collins Scott Associates, Tacoma, Wash.

Useful Sources:
www.multicare.com
www.skanskausa.com