Medical Construction & Design (MCD) is the industry's leading source for news and information and reaches all disciplines involved in the healthcare construction and design process.
Issue link: https://mcdmag.epubxp.com/i/853600
40 Medical Construction & Design | J U LY/AUGUST 2017 | MCDM AG.COM The result Project Legacy, as this medical center is nicknamed, broke ground in June 2010 and began accepting outpatients in December 2016. This facility sets new standards for the VA's patient-centered care, in a facility that honors veterans' service and refl ects the culture of New Orleans. The campus includes 200 inpa- tient beds, 370 outpatient exam rooms, 21 procedural suites, ambulatory clinics, emergency and imaging departments, mental health services, patient education facilities, transitional living and outpatient rehabilitation, a central energy plant and two parking garages. The hospital also features a gymnasium, swimming pool, healing gardens, courtyards and walking paths. The facility is designed to meet the full array of VA missions — education, re- search and national emergency prepared- ness and assistance. Challenges, unique construction requirements Designing the facility to withstand poten- tial future natural disasters was a major challenge. Designed and constructed for maximum resiliency, the medical center can remain fully operational during a major storm or natural disaster. The plan quite literally overturns the conventional organization of hospitals, moving the emergency room and essential utilities above the 20-foot fl ood line and fi lling low- er levels with less mission-critical features. The design and construction also had to meet the VA's antiterrorism security requirements. The shatterproof-glass façade does double-duty by protecting occupants from the impact of an explo- sion or the 129 mph winds of a Category 3 hurricane. This facility blazes a new trail in terms of how to create a resilient facil- ity and how to integrate that with the VA standards for physical security. 1 PROJECT TEAM: Southeast Louisiana Veterans Health Care System Replacement Medical Center (Project Legacy) General Contractor: Clark/McCarthy Healthcare Partners, a joint venture of Clark Construction Group and McCarthy Building Companies Architect: StudioNOVA, a joint venture of NBBJ, Eskew, Dumez + Ripple and Rozas-Ward Architects Mechanical/Electrical Engineer: BR&A; Consulting Engineers (central energy plant) Interior Designer: NBBJ Landscape Architect: NBBJ