A Vertical Update

Who said you can’t go home again? HKS, Inc., designed the original Albert B. and Margaret M. Alkek Hospital at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston in the mid-1990s, working with Walter P Moore (as well as associate architects Lockwood Andrews and Newnam).

Seventeen years later, HKS returned—with Walter P Moore as well as McCarthy Building Companies, Inc.—to design and build a 500,000-square-foot addition of 12 floors atop an existing hospital. Multiple design, construction, and engineering challenges awaited the team—everything from updates in medical delivery to matching the exterior façade to construction noise and vibration.

Operational integration

In the almost 20-year span, changes in clinical practice provided opportunities to incorporate modifications in the patient tower design.

Norman Morgan, principal-in-charge with HKS, who served as healthcare planner on the original project, notes, “On the patient and family side, MD Anderson’s goals were to maximize the number of patient rooms per floor using current industry and best practice standards, improve wayfinding for families and visitors, and add family spaces and amenities on the floor.” Since the ‘90s, patient room standards have increased significantly. The typical 185-square-foot patient room has increased to 225 square feet.

“To increase the square footage in each of the patient rooms, the originally designed inset building corners were filled in,” Morgan says. “In addition, 50,000 square feet of additional space was provided through a super column structure. This innovative design allowed the client to add four more patient rooms per floor. It also permitted each patient room to increase in size to incorporate dedicated family zones—with pull-out sleeping accommodations and a television—as well as specific caregiver areas.”

The floor configuration is also noted for improving wayfinding. “When stepping off of the elevator, a direct line of sight is provided to the reception desk. Included are more family waiting areas, consultation rooms, decentralized charting stations, and team meeting rooms, as well as 12 publically accessible hand-washing sinks on each floor,” Morgan says.

Distinctive caregiving

MD Anderson’s project challenges also included decentralizing nurses’ stations, improving staff and patient circulation, and streamlining support areas within the new addition.

Studies show caregivers who have direct visibility of patients often are able to identify problems before they register on monitoring equipment. “Instead of charting patient care at two main nurses’ stations per unit, the addition incorporates decentralized, room-side nurse substations to draw the nurse closer to the patient, and lower the risk of interruptions and medical errors,” Morgan says.