Providence St. Peter

Concourse, Lobby Addition at Olympia Hospital to Create Friendlier Approach

by Melody Finnemore

The concourse and lobby addition at Providence St. Peter Hospital in Olympia is the third piece of a $33 million phased campus renewal plan at the hospital. Image courtesy of Giffin Bolte Jurgens

Patients, visitors and staff at Providence St. Peter Hospital in Olympia, Wash., will find a more welcoming environment after an $8 million effort to create a new pedestrian concourse and main lobby.

Sellen Construction Co. of Seattle and Giffin/Bolte/Jurgens Architects of Portland, Ore., have teamed on the project, which should be completed in August.

"The current lobby is a lot smaller, so this will expand it and improve traffic flow," said Todd Lee, project manager for Sellen. "Hospitals grow so fast that they can become like a rabbit warren, and wayfinding is a big deal."

The concourse and lobby project will add 10,000 sq. ft. to the hospital. In addition, the renovation of the facility's short-stay, registration and admitting areas will increase the medical center's space by 16,000 sq. ft.

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Completing construction while the emergency department remains open has been one of the most difficult aspects of the project, Lee said.

"We're working right at the main entrance, so there's a lot of interaction between us, the hospital staff, patients and visitors," he added.

The project's high visibility, along with the opportunity to participate in the medical center's vision statement, have been extremely rewarding, said Igo Jurgens, project manager and a principal at Giffin Bolte Jurgens.

"It's been kind of neat because the hospital has a campus renewal plan and basically wanted to create a new image and a friendlier approach to dealing with patients," he added.

Jurgens said the working conditions were extremely difficult. "We're working with a 300-ft. length of hospital that was built and remodeled in different phases," he said. "We're not only dealing with various portions of the building but we're also working with another architect (Scherer Associates, Olympia). In addition, we're working while the hospital continues operations, which makes it very complex."

The concourse and lobby addition is the third piece of a $33 million phased campus renewal plan at the hospital. A new 420-vehicle parking garage was completed in January, and a new 78,000-sq.-ft. emergency department and lab space began operations in June.

Useful Sources:
www.providence.org/swsa
www.sellen.com
www.gbjarch.com

Project Team:
Owner: Providence St. Peter Hospital
General Contractor: Sellen Construction Company, Seattle Giffin Bolte Jurgens Architects
Architect: Giffin Bolte Jurgens Architects, Portland, Ore.
Structural Engineer: Putnam Collins Scott Associates, Tacoma, Wash.