The new building includes a 224-bed consolidation of high-acuity-level nursing units. A new surgical department of 22 operating rooms was designed to include ORs with intraoperative imaging capability and zones of flexibility. The surgical suite is aligned with Cardiovascular and Surgical ICUs, as well as a Short-Stay Unit, creating a “Surgical Platform of Care” with safe and efficient access among components. A new Diagnostic Imaging Department includes three MRI, two CT, and 12 Ultrasound rooms in addition to general radiology facilities.

The objectives for developing the architectural planning and design concept for the new building were: (1) to match the programmatic requirements of the hospital for replacing imaging and surgical facilities and high-acuity patient rooms; (2) to incorporate into the building the latest protocols and technology of care while delivering flexibility for future change in programs; (3) to provide connectivity to the other buildings in the complex; (4) to optimize the utilization of the building’s strategic site; and (5) to create a signature design statement appropriate to the building’s high-visibility location and the importance of the services it delivers.

The creation of the new facility allows the hospital to fulfill its mission as a world leader in providing exemplary patient care, innovative research, and education. Critical Care bed capacity has risen by 10%, and 224 high-acuity beds have been added, allowing the treatment of as many as 12,000 patients annually.

Project category: New construction (completed August 2003)

Chief administrator: Alan Hudson, MD, Chief Executive Officer, (416) 340-3300

Firm: Hellmuth, Obata + Kassabaum, (212) 741-1200

Design team: Charles G. Siconolfi, Principal-in-Charge; Kenneth Drucker, Design Director; Gerry Lang, Senior Designer; Hagen Materne, Technical Architect; Christopher Korsh, Designer

Photography: Ben Rahn; David Whittaker

Total building area (sq. ft.): 437,000

Construction cost/sq. ft.: $275

Total cost (excluding land): $120,000,000


Surgical capacity has been expanded, and operating rooms with intraoperative imaging capabilities make possible a wide variety of complex surgical interventions.

Imaging capacity has been expanded, particularly in MRI and CT modalities, allowing for the increase in imaging volume of more than 15,000 procedures annually.

Patients, their families, and staff now have a facility with clear wayfinding organized along a series of new axes and an area of respite in the form of the new Patient Court. The hospital has new capacity and the most modern technology, as well as a new institutional signature in its Patient Court structure that identifies its new mission to the community. And the community has a new icon, a re-created major institution that takes its place among the other great institutions of the city, lining the boulevard upon which it is placed.