Project category: New construction (completed December 2010)

Chief administrator: Bobbie Gerhart, Chief Executive Officer, (937) 208-2475

Firm: NBBJ, (614) 232-3060

Design team: MEP Engineer (Korda/Nemeth Engineering, Inc.); Structural Engineer (Shell + Meyer Associates, Inc.); Civil Engineer (LJB Inc.); Lighting Designer (NBBJ); Construction Manager (Skanska Shook J.V.)

Photography: © Benjamin Benschneider; © Matthew Carbone; NBBJ

Total building area (sq. ft.): 440,000

Construction cost/sq. ft.: $325

Total construction cost (excluding land): $143,000,000

The Miami Valley Hospital Heart and Orthopedic Center is a twelve-story, 500,000SF facility that combines an integrated Heart Center with seven floors of acuity adaptable patient rooms. The design establishes an efficient, well-organized, and flexible environment that conveys Miami Valley Hospital’s commitment to clinical excellence. The design team drew on best practices from corporate offices, prefabricated homes, manufacturing, and even airport jetways to drive innovation. The benefits are clearly evident: a temporary, reusable bridge connecting adjacent facilities shaved over $1 million off the budget, innovative prefab construction approaches cut the schedule by two months, and acuity-adaptable patient rooms reduced patient transfers by 66%.

The 180 patient rooms and 120 overhead MEP racks were virtually constructed using Building Information Modeling (BIM) and then prefabricated in a warehouse before being transported to the worksite. This approach was up to three times faster than traditional construction methods, and additionally eliminated problems associated with exposure to weather. This allowed for tighter tolerances, less waste, zero injuries, lower labor costs, and faster turnaround.

Patient floors feature a more open layout than the traditional “racetrack,” instead utilizing sixteen-foot-wide hallways with patient rooms on both sides, turning the entire corridor into a caregiver workspace. Corporate-inspired work stations can be easily reconfigured, and staged supply locations are placed throughout each floor, establishing a distributed core and reducing travel distances.

The patient rooms themselves are identical, same-handed, and can convert from high-acuity care for post-surgery patients to low-acuity for patients in general recovery. This reduces the need to relocate patients as their level of care changes, thus minimizing stress and potential complications, and also enables rooms to convert quickly during emergencies. An angled headwall allows for high staff-to-patient visibility, while handrails lead directly from the bed to the bathroom, helping to reduce the risk of falls.

The building achieved LEED Silver certification, the largest Ohio hospital to do so, through the use of prefabrication (which diverted 78% of construction debris from landfills), an 8% more energy-efficient building envelope than required by code, and a 60% improvement in energy costs over comparable facilities.

Finally, the project redefines the hospital’s identity by transforming the way the campus is experienced by patients, staff and the community. The renewal of the campus delivers a dramatic improvement in the image of Miami Valley Hospital as a destination by providing a welcoming, easily accessible setting and a 54% increase in campus green space.