Project category: New construction & Remodel/Renovation (December 2004)

Chief administrator: John Fitzgerald, Chief Executive Officer, (703) 391-3600

Firm: Wilmot Sanz, Inc., (301) 590-2900

Design team: Rolando Sanz, Principal-in-Charge; Dwight Fincher, Architectural Designer; Tom Carney, Project Manager; Dan Kane, Project Architect

Photography: Michael Dersin Photography

Total building area (sq. ft.): 181,000 (new); 116,000 (renovation)

Construction cost/sq. ft.: $238 (new); $147 (renovation)

Total cost (excluding land): $43,000,000 (new); $17,000,000 (renovation)

The centerpiece of Inova Fair Oaks Hospital’s expansion program is a five-story, 181,000-square-foot addition. It will provide three new floors for inpatient care, including 30 observation beds, 12 critical care beds, 86 medical/surgical beds, and 34 intermediate care beds, with the majority being private rooms.

The first floor showcases a new main hospital entrance and lobby, as well as administrative offices, new dietary and material management departments, and a service/delivery dock. The second floor houses an outpatient services “mall,” including registration, pretesting, women’s diagnostic services, and entries to imaging and ambulatory surgery. New surgery facilities include four operating rooms, pre-op, PACU, and stage II recovery.

On floors three, four, and five, patient rooms surround a decentralized nursing core, with nurses’ stations located at opposite corners and charting stations between rooms, which act as mobile chart-docking stations. Duplicate support areas reduce staff travel distance and decrease corridor clutter. The “universal” patient rooms are sized for family inclusion and incorporate millwork footwalls that have a residential, built-in quality. The use of accent colors, accent light fixtures, and artwork provides additional residential character to the rooms.

Interior landscaped courtyards for public and staff bring light and views into the building. A glass atrium with a communicating feature stair separates the two courtyards. This space will feature artwork and cafá© seating. A newly created, tree-lined boulevard separates parking from a pedestrian forecourt and terminates with a fountain located at the building entrance.

Special attention is given to the look and feel of public areas in an effort to deinstitutionalize their ambience. Hospitality-styled furnishings, indirect lighting, patient-floor carpet, millwork, and natural finish materials used in a contemporary fashion distinguish this facility’s look from the traditional clinical appearance. A festive bistro-style cafeteria was developed to provide an upscale setting for use by staff and visitors. Smaller-scale, decentralized seating areas replace large waiting rooms. Special focus was placed on planning strategies that improve service and materials flow while segregating staff/service and patient/visitor circulation.

This new design will provide needed support spaces, such as nursing centers, supply and equipment storage, and medication and nourishment facilities. The project also allows for a major renovation of the existing emergency department to increase capacity. Other departments that will be upgraded to meet current standards through the renovation phase include imaging, SPD (Sterile Processing Department), pharmacy, rehabilitation services, labor/delivery, NICU, and pediatrics.