Engineered Systems - February 2008 - (Page 37) Projects of a certain scope can simply take a while, and such is the case with this medical complex. We check in seven years after the site evaluation but still a year or two away from opening. It’s a good time to ask some questions: How do you plan for equipment that isn’t invented yet? How do you keep adjusting design once construction has started? Explore the obstacles — plus intricacies, such as how the BAS works with emergency power — that make such planning anything but child’s play. BY ARTHUR A. BELL JR., P.E. he new Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC facility was born out of a merger between the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) and Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh (CHP). To understand the CHP project, you must first understand the mission that drives patient care at the facility. There is one overarching goal that unites all those involved with the work at CHP: transforming the lives of children through science and compassion. CHP is dedicated to improving the health and wellbeing of children through excellence in patient care, teaching, and research. The dedicated caregivers and staff perform their duties with the utmost respect and tenderness, tending to both the patients and their families. The design of the state-of-the-art hospital had to embody these ideals and enable the caregivers and staff to achieve the mission. Astorino’s contract as the A/E firm empowered to design a stateof-the-art facility which would house one of the world’s premier health care providers for children, was no small undertaking by any stretch of the imagination. The CHP facility includes nine distinct buildings covering a total of approximately 2.06 million sq ft (47.3 acres) of structures in the current construction plan and the infrastructure for two future facilities. The CHP site plan illustrates the relationships of the buildings and the computer generated aerial view, peeking through the article title, provides an image of the site when complete. • Clinical services building (CSB – hospital): 1,000,000 sq ft of inpatient and outpatient services and supporting facilities with 300 parking spaces. • Research laboratory building: 300,000-sq-ft medical research facility with conference center. • Central plant and expansion: 46,300 sq ft of facility housing steam boilers, chillers, emergency generators, and appurtenances. • Faculty pavilion: 137,000-sq-ft office facility to house medical and teaching staff. • Administration office building: 75,000-sq-ft office facility to house administrative and support staff. • Plaza building: 103,000 sq ft of office space, daycare center, and inpatient family residences. • Mid-site parking garage: 93,000 sq ft in three stories providing 250 parking spaces. • Staff parking garage: 297,000 sq ft in eight stories providing 800 parking spaces. • Clinical office building: 9,500-sq-ft office building. • Future ambulatory facility: Undefined at this time. • Future research building expansion: Undefined at this time. To provide an idea of the facility’s size, the CSB alone was comprised of over 1,700 contract drawings and approximately 2,500 to 3,000 pages of contract specifications. To further illustrate the magw w w. esmag a zin e. c o m 37 T http://www.esmagazine.com
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