Multi-Care Creates Healthy Environment, with Silver Rating

MultiCare Good Samaritan Hospital features energy efficiencies.

By Deb Wood

A $400-million, nine-story patient care tower now under construction at Multi- Care Good Samaritan Hospital in Puyallup aims to become Washington State’s first LEED-silver health-care facility.

“It’s a comprehensive project for this aging hospital,” says Allison Garr, the hospital’s administrator for campus development. The original hospital was built in the 1950s, with space added through the 1990s. The health system will convert much of the original building into non-clinical space.

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The opportunity to make this a green project was one we couldn’t pass up,” Garr adds. She says that because officials planned for sustainability from the start, certification did not add to the project cost.

Skanska USA Building of Seattle broke ground on the $277 million construction project, which includes the tower, a 380- car parking structure and a 10,000-sq-ft central utility plant, in late spring 2008, with work first proceeding on the plant and parking decks. The tower is expected to top out in the fall and be complete at the end of 2010.

“Most challenging is the fast pace,” says Mark Howell, vice president for Skanska.

Skanska was heavily engaged in the preconstruction process and brought many of its subcontractors in early to support the design effort, Howell adds.

Good Sam Design Collaborative, a joint venture between Clark/Kjos Architects (CKA) and Giffin Bolte Jurgens Architects, both of Portland, designed the 350,000-sq-ft project, which includes a new 46-bed emergency department; imaging and surgery departments; 80 family-friendly, private rooms; and simplified access and wayfaring within the hospital.

“The campus is designed for lots of flexibility,” says Tom Clark, a principal with CKA. “We can more than double the size of the hospital on the site because of how we have planned it.”

The eastern portion of Pierce County is one of the state’s fastest-growing regions, and hospital officials say they want to be ready to serve the area. The emergency department currently treats 66,000 patients annually. The hospital will grow from 225 inpatient beds to 275.

The new tower

The team employed building information modeling software from Autodesk for developing backgrounds, quantity takeoffs, mechanical and electrical coordination, constructability and to develop construction detail.

Skanska USA Building is constructing the MultiCare Good Samaritan Hospital patient care tower. (Photo courtesy of Skanska USA Building)

“We utilized the model to come up with a way to shave the edges off the beams, reduce the amount of concrete in the beams so it fit into our forming system,” Holder says. “It would be easier to strip and more cost-effective to perform the work.”

Skanska also has linked the model to the schedule, allowing it to track the progress of the job.

The building sits on a spread-footing and mat foundation. The mats support the sheer cores. The material under the hospital is glacial till.

The lower podium consists of concrete joists and girders, with deep beams and shallower joists. From the third floor up, the building is SidePlate structural steel, a patented steel system.

“A lot of the moment connections are done in the shop rather than the field,” Howell says. “It’s a seismic approach to handling a moment frame.”

Howell says the building is designed to exceed current building codes and to withstand a 500-year earthquake event, which required placement of additional steel and reinforcing.

The exterior consists of masonry, metal panel, curtain wall and punch windows, with a rain screen behind the entire system.

Natural light

“Everything is covered on the outside with glass canopies, to create a light, bright and inviting patient experience,” Clark says. “The outside has many healing gardens and areas of respite for patients, staff and visitors.”

Natural light also flows into the threestory lobby, which Clark calls the hub of the hospital. It features glass elevators, so riders can see where they are going. Diagnostic and pre-operative testing areas branch off the lobby. Surgery waiting areas are one level below grade. An emergency department is under that, with central supply and material handling on the bottom.

Four new 40-bed patient floors and a mechanical interstitial space rise above the lobby. Two levels will remain shelled for now.

Clark says the building is on an eastwest axis with all of the windows facing north and south to avoid low sun angles overheating the building. Sunshades cover south-facing windows to further prevent heat gain.

“To create a healing and positive feel in the building, you really need daylight,” Clark says.

Natural light will fill the diagnostic waiting areas. In the patient rooms, a light shelf on the upper portions of the windows will reflect daylight deeper into the rooms.

Green features

The team has selected regional and recycled materials and certified wood and low-volatile organic compound materials for interior finishes. Skanska used castellated beams in the parking structure. The beams are created and deepened to increase the depth while consuming fewer raw materials.

“It reduces the amount of material, but it still performs and allows us to make the spans we are looking for column to column,” Holder says.

The tower has a reflective roof. The patient rooms and glass-backed elevators look down on a green roof.

“We have eco-roofs at all of the lower roof levels to slow stormwater runoff and to reduce heat loss in the winter and prevent heat gain in the summer,” Clark. says. “We have bioswales and rain gardens to filter pollutants.”

Dual-flush fixtures, pint-flush urinals and no potable water used for medical equipment cooling is expected to reduce potable water use by 20% compared to a normal hospital.

Energy-efficient HVAC equipment includes a Dolphin recirculating water system, low-velocity ducting and midbuilding air handlers so the equipment doesn’t have to work as hard to traverse the height of the building.

Skanska is on track to divert more than 75% of the construction waste. Crews regularly clean the street and wash the truck wheels.

Team Box:

Owner: MultiCare Good Samaritan Hospital, Puyallup
Architect: Good Sam Design Collaborative, a joint venture between Clark/Kjos Architects, Portland, and Giffin Bolte Jurgens Architects, Portland
Contractor: Skanska USA Building, Seattle
Mechanical: University Mechanical, Mukilteo
Electrical: Veca Electric, Seattle
Fire Protection: McKinstry, Seattle
Curtain Wall: Harmon, Eden Prairie, Minn.