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Community Hospital North
Indianapolis Medical Center
Expands to Meet Demand
by Brian R. Hook
Community Hospital North in Indianapolis is wrapping up an
850,000-sq-ft building expansion and renovation project to
meet growing demand.
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The $170 million project at the hospital in northeast Indianapolis
involves three new structures-a six-story patient tower, six-story
parking garage and five-story medical office building. The
project also includes some renovations of the existing building.
"Demand for our service at this campus outstripped our
capacity," says Mark Hayden, senior project manager at
Community Health Network, a nonprofit health-care system with
five hospitals in central Indiana, including North.
"We're located at the edge of one of the most rapidly
growing areas in the country. As the area has grown, we have
grown our services to match the demand."
Over the last four years at Community Hospital North, admissions
have increased by nearly 7%. Emergency visits have grown by
almost 9.5% and births have risen by more than 4%. The hospital
averages more than 1,000 patients on a daily basis.
The construction project, scheduled for completion in April,
will more than double the size of the hospital, adding 282
private patient rooms, with space for 48 more rooms in the
future. Linked to the hospital will be the professional office
building and the 1,000-space parking garage. The structures
will be connected in a circular fashion.
A Sculpted Building
"It's a pretty dramatic architectural presentation,"
Hayden says.
The exterior provides a circular feel instead of the more
typical square appearance at most hospitals, he adds. The
skin of the structure will also provide a high-tech look because
of the geometry of the forms inside and out and materials
that include curtain wall and metal.
"The building is very sculptural," says Jim Johnson,
project manager at RTKL Associates Inc, an architectural firm,
says of the complex. Health-care design is performed out of
the Boston-headquartered firm's Dallas office.
In addition the curtain wall, some of the exterior is brick
to match the existing hospital structure. The parking garage,
which is also curved, is covered with stainless steel. Johnson
says the design of the garage helps soften its edges and disguises
it.
"With the curves, the soft forms, plus the stainless
steel mesh on the exterior, we really get some neat reflections
of light as the sun goes over the building," Johnson
says. "Each panel along the curve gives us a different
shade and a different opacity."
The centerpiece of the project is the new patient tower. A
large, sunlit gallery will serve as the main entrance to the
hospital. The gallery will include a chapel, health boutique,
gift shop, coffee shop and pharmacy. A cafeteria is being
built near the gallery.
The entrance is referred to as a gallery because it is designed
to look and feel like an art gallery, which will allow patients
and their family members to peruse artwork. To fill the space,
the hospital has commissioned 30 original art pieces, including
both paintings and sculpture, from local artists.
Inside the main tower there are two large atriums with skylights
that are 40-ft square. "They allow us to give a positive
distraction as you start going down this long building,"
Johnson says. "The football-shape curve inside appears
as if it never ends, he adds. "About half way through
the curve you come upon these giant 100-ft-tall atriums. It's
a great distraction and it's a great surprise as you go through
this building."
Also inside the main building is one set of elevators that
provide access to the upper levels, which house 48 private
medical/surgical suites as well as three floors of new space
for mothers and babies. The upper floors will include 60 labor,
delivery, recovery and postpartum rooms, which will allow
new mothers to remain in one place throughout their stay.
Another floor will house a neonatal intensive care unit.
The main building also features private registration and billing
areas. Every surgical patient will have a private room before
surgery and for recovery. Plus, advanced technology was included
throughout, including wireless Internet, electronic medical
records, digital imaging and computers near patient's rooms
for staff members.
Outside, Inside
Most of the new structure was built on top of an existing
surface parking lot, which had to be taken out before construction
started in third-quarter 2004.
"It's a fairly tight site," Hayden says. He says
some acreage was available nearby to turn into a temporary
parking lot. The hospital had to create a remote parking lot
and operate a shuttle service 24 hours a day to provide transportation
to and from the hospital for both employees and patients.
The hospital also leased some ground for a staging area.
Hayden says the schedule has been aggressive since the beginning.
Some interior renovations will continue until September, says
Larry Fleck, vice president of general contractor Summit Construction
Co. Inc. in Indianapolis.
Fleck says one of the main issues was keeping traffic moving
to and from the hospital. The main entrance to the hospital
had to be relocated to the emergency room entrance during
construction.
"We made it work. It was tight," Fleck says.
Nearly every electrical and plumbing system had a major investment,
Hayden says. Some new lines were put in and others were extended.
The hospital added a new chill-water plant that will eventually
be used to replace existing capacity as the current equipment
finishes its expected lifecycle. The hospital also added new
generators that will also eventually replace existing generators
once that equipment wears out.
Outside, Inside
Most of the new structure was built on top of an existing surface
parking lot, which had to be taken out before construction started
in third-quarter 2004.
"It's a fairly tight site," Hayden says. He says some
acreage was available nearby to turn into a temporary parking
lot. The hospital had to create a remote parking lot and operate
a shuttle service 24 hours a day to provide transportation to
and from the hospital for both employees and patients.
The hospital also leased some ground for a staging area.
Hayden says the schedule has been aggressive since the beginning.
Some interior renovations will continue until September, says
Larry Fleck, vice president of general contractor Summit Construction
Co. Inc. in Indianapolis.
Fleck says one of the main issues was keeping traffic moving
to and from the hospital. The main entrance to the hospital
had to be relocated to the emergency room entrance during construction.
"We made it work. It was tight," Fleck says.
Nearly every electrical and plumbing system had a major investment,
Hayden says. Some new lines were put in and others were extended.
The hospital added a new chill-water plant that will eventually
be used to replace existing capacity as the current equipment
finishes its expected lifecycle. The hospital also added new
generators that will also eventually replace existing generators
once that equipment wears out.
Effect of Commodity Prices
The rising price of some commodities impacted the project a
bit, Hayden says. He adds that copper prices were higher than
anticipated, but steel prices were not as bad as originally
feared.
There were only minor difficulties getting materials, Fleck
says. "The accelerated fashion, which the owner wanted
of the project, in some instances caused difficulty getting
materials in time. But we were able to work around those."
Architect Johnson says the biggest request by the hospital was
the schedule.
"They made us work very fast," he says. "We were
building the shell before we designed the inside. If there was
something that needed to be built, we issued some drawings to
allow for that to be done out of sequence of our normal process."
In addition to the fast pace, the budget was also a concern.
"We would check at different points in the project to make
sure that we were on target," Johnson says.
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