NFPA Journal - January/February 2018 - 56

Looking at the
Evidence
selected the design team at SBA to develop and implement the
15-year master plan. As part of our approach for developing
the Phase 4 patient areas, we used evidence-based design, or
EBD, an eight-step process that can help the industry make
informed, research-based decisions about the built environment to achieve the best possible outcomes. In late 2012, after
the Phase 1 patient areas had been operating for about nine
months, we conducted post-occupancy evaluations-critical
components of EBD-of those areas and used the information
to make important design changes in the Phase 4 South Wing
patient areas.
In today's health care ecosystem, where Medicare/Medicaid
reimbursements are based on quality measures like safety,
infection rates, readmissions, and patient satisfaction, building
design is a critically important aspect of a health care facility's
ultimate success. A growing body of evidence illustrates how
the built environment impacts delivery of care, patient safety,
and patient experience. Building components such as layout,
lighting, wayfinding, acoustics, access to nature, temperature
control, and air quality all play important roles in creating an
environment that improves outcomes and efficiency, and supports healing. When used alongside codes and standards such
as NFPA 101®, Life Safety Code®, and NFPA 99, Health Care
Facilities, evidence-based design, as illustrated by the Baystate
project, is a valuable tool for achieving a compliant design that
is both functional as a built environment and effective as an
environment in which to heal.
Despite its benefits, EBD remains an under-utilized process. I hope the overview of EBD provided here, and its

The large U-shaped addition added 640,000 square feet to
Baystate Medical Center. The Phase 1 buildout, shown in purple,
included a heart and vascular center, operating suites, and
patient beds, and was completed in 2012. An evidence-based
process was applied to Phase 1 and informed the buildout of the
Phase 4 wing, shown in blue, which included nearly 100 patient
beds and was completed in 2016.

56 | NFPA JOURNAL * J A N U A R Y / F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 8

STEFFIAN BRADLEY ARCHITECTS

The extension would add 640,000 square feet to BMC,
expanding its acute care and inpatient services, adding a
combined heart and vascular center, developing medical,
surgical, and critical care beds, expanding the emergency
department capacities, and relocating the children's hospital-in short, creating a "hospital of the future." About 45
percent of the extension would be built as shell space for
future growth.
The master plan consisted of multiple phases, four of
which are complete. Phase 1 construction, begun in 2009
and completed in early 2012, included the extension's shell
and core-building the entire 640,000-square-foot shell at
the outset would help save money over the course of the
multi-year project-plus 300,000 square feet of interior
fit-out for a heart and vascular center, six hybrid operating
suites, 96 medical/surgical inpatient beds, and 30 intensive
care beds. Phase 2, completed in 2012, included the buildout of the lobby renovations and café. Phase 3 included the
replacement of the existing emergency department with a
94-bed emergency and Level-1 trauma center, and was also
completed in 2012. Planning for the Phase 4 South Wing,
which would include 76 medical/surgical inpatient and 20
intermediate-care beds, began in 2012, and the wing opened
in 2016. BMC now occupies more than a million square feet
and serves more than 80,000 patients annually.
My role in Baystate's Phase 4 South Wing effort was as project executive with Steffian Bradley Architects (SBA), a global
design firm based in Boston. One of our areas of specialization
is healthcare planning, and the steering committee at BMC



Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of NFPA Journal - January/February 2018

Contents
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NFPA Journal - January/February 2018 - Cover2
NFPA Journal - January/February 2018 - 1
NFPA Journal - January/February 2018 - Contents
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