Project category: New construction (completed February 2007)

Chief administrator: Bonnie Swanson, Administrative Director, (563) 322-0971

Firm: Gere Dismer Architects, LLC, (309) 786-9910

Design team: Perry W. Gere, AIA, Lead Architect (Gere Dismer Architects, LLC); James Russell, President (Russell Construction Co.); Brian Hodgin, PE, Mechanical Engineer (Northwest Mechanical, Inc.); Michael Huskey, VP, Commercial Estimating (J.W. Koehler Electric); Patrick Eikenberry, Vice-President (Missman & Associates); Mark Slifka, President (Greenspace Associates, Inc.)

Photography: 2007 Dale Photographic; 2007 Michael E. McNeil

Total building area (sq. ft.): 77,000

Construction cost/sq. ft.: Not released

Total construction cost (excluding land): Not released

Orthopaedic & Rheumatology Associates (ORA) is one of the largest practices between Chicago and Des Moines devoted to providing the highest quality of orthopedic care for its patients. It was the vision of the ORA physicians to develop a center that would provide full-service care for all orthopedic needs.

The 77,000-sq.-ft. facility is the cornerstone of the new Genesis at Crow Valley Medical Park, developed by Genesis Health Systems in Bettendorf, Iowa.

Patients are greeted by a canopied entry, where they are welcomed by a light-filled atrium connecting all three stories. The main level is devoted to the ORA clinic and practice. The exam rooms are organized in five pods of four, organized concentrically around three digital X-ray rooms, technician space, and four cast-room bays. The business and physicians’ offices share an elevated view of the surrounding community. The south end of the building opens to a landscaped court, providing views of and access to the outside.

The lower-level public lobby serves as a vending area and a prefunction space for the 100-person Conference Center. Accessible from this lobby are an MRI suite and a Physical Therapy Clinic.

The natural topography of the site allowed for full exposure on the north and east when the remainder of the lower level is below grade. Connection to daylight was a primary design strategy. In the MRI suite, the east wall of the magnet room is fully glazed, providing the critical daylight connection as well as access for the magnet placement and future maintenance. The bore of the magnet itself is rotated perpendicular to the window wall, allowing light penetration deep into its interior. In the Physical Therapy space, daylight floods the primary exercise room and the therapists’ office. The lower level also provides space for a small Prosthetics Clinic used for sizing and fitting.

Most of the second floor is dedicated to Crow Valley Orthopaedic Surgery Center, an ambulatory surgical facility that is a joint venture between ORA and Genesis Health Systems. Initially, the center will provide two state-of-the-art orthopedic operating suites with expansion capacity to four. Each of the operating rooms is clearly expressed by a floor bay on the building exterior. In addition to articulating the operating volumes, these bays provide controlled daylight into each of the operating rooms.