Category: Healthcare

Pharmacy of the Future – Less Confusion, More Accuracy

TLCD’s Healthcare Studio team recently had the opportunity to design a pharmacy space that incorporates a new technology called GSL Solutions Will-Call Intellicab System. This technology aims to create less confusion and room for error when you pick up your medicine.

Who first thought up those alphabetical bins at the pharmacy stuffed with little white prescription bags? Even when they have 2 “S” bins and the curious “P/Q” bin, it always seems that half the lettered bins are overflowing, the others suspiciously empty. The pharmacist shuffles though the piles only to find your prescription isn’t in the bin at all. They talk it over with their mystified colleagues. “Why don’t you give us ten minutes to figure it out?” they say.

before and after prescriptions_crop

That was the past. The next time you get your prescription filled it may start out on a conveyor belt. In this layout below, a Pharmacist sees your order and picks it out of inventory, just like they used to. From there it is placed in a plastic bin and then onto a conveyor belt. After that it heads to a second station where another Pharmacist confirms the order and requests a slot for the patient in the Intellicab. The Intellicab randomly assigns one of its drawers and a blinking light flashes. The pharmacist heads over, waves their ID and a drawer opens. A blinking slot appears and the Pharmacist inserts the order into the bay. If a pharmacist inserts the item into an adjacent bay the Intellicab will make a record of the event to help train the user.

When the patient shows up to collect a prescription, their personal data is entered, and once confirmed the bin with their order in it is identified. A light appears on the drawer that holds it, then the Pharmacist heads over, waves their ID card to let the Intellicab know which Pharmacist is making the request. The drawer opens and a light appears at the patient’s randomly assigned bin. The pharmacist would then check the name on the bag and complete the transaction.

Even more important than speeding up pharmacy lines at busy hospitals, this technology has the power to save lives. Taking the wrong medication can have deadly side effects and, while rare, the wrong medication is delivered to patients from time to time. No system is fool-proof from human error, but this technologically advanced pharmacy design will provide a faster and safer way to get medication.

If you’d like to read more about TLCD’s Healthcare Studio, check out some of our other projects here.

Design Competition Fuses Primary Care and Mental Health Services

The healthcare landscape is always changing as providers evolve the framework for care and adjust capital plans to maximize shifting reimbursement models, stay current with medical technology and respond to shifting political priorities and societal demands. In recent years, the Affordable Care Act and the cry for improved mental healthcare services have pushed the industry to increase outpatient primary care and mental health capacities. This trend is leading some in the industry to cast away old notions and stigma – and seize the opportunity to make mental health an integral part of primary healthcare.

tlcd architecture, healthcare design, integrating primary cary and mental health, jason brabo, design competition

In a recent design competition, TLCD Architecture explored how the fusion of mental health and primary care could be supported in the built environment. The resulting outpatient campus brings primary care and mental health together in a unified, community-focused design while addressing privacy and security concerns. The concept of total patient wellbeing begins with easy access for patients and incorporates healthy opportunities of exercise, farmers markets, community activities, health education and medical care. Giving people a reason to visit the site on a regular basis for everyday activities serves to promote health and wellbeing.

tlcd architecture, healthcare design, integrating primary cary and mental health, jason brabo, design competition, outdoor plaza, food trucks, kid play areas, indoor outdoor stair

During the design process TLCD Architecture used our own healthcare experience that includes recent work on acute and outpatient mental health facilities, as well as assembling a team of designers, planners and engineers with diverse backgrounds to bring fresh perspectives to the discussion. We also used the growing body of research that brings these ideas into focus and provides motivation for healthcare providers to integrate primary care and mental health services that result in improved patient care, financial efficiencies and increased marketplace appeal.

As designers, TLCD Architecture believes that it’s our responsibility to bring design and operational innovations and new thinking to our clients so they are well informed as they make decisions that shape the future of healthcare.

For more information visit these resources.

Integrated Behavioral Health Project

Behavioral Healthcare

Article: More ACOs Look to Behavioral Health

World Health Organization

Report: Integrating mental health into primary care: a global perspective 

tlcd architecture, healthcare design, integrating primary cary and mental health, jason brabo, design competition, outdoor plaza, food trucks, kid play areas, indoor outdoor stair

Improving Mental Health Care in Sonoma County

A small but important TLCD Architecture project was featured in an article, ‘County Overhauling Mental Health Services for Those in Crisis’ in today’s Press Democrat. The Sonoma County Crisis Stabilization Unit is a new facility that will replace the existing, outdated facility currently housed in the old Sonoma County (recently Sutter) Community Hospital complex on Chanate Road.

The Crisis Stabilization Unit will expand and improve the County’s emergency mental health services which treat 4500 clients each year. This new, larger facility located at The Lakes business park in west Santa Rosa will be more accessible to the clients they serve and visible to the community. In addition to providing services to adults, it will also provide much needed services to adolescents who are currently among the most underserved in the North Bay mental health care community. Project Manager Jason Brabo, Project Architect Carl Servais, Project Captain Julie Wycoff and Interior Designer Domenica Sheets are the project team.

The 15,000 sf unit is a Tenant Improvement in an existing business park and has been designed to meet the specific needs of the clients and staff. It will serve those who come in on a voluntary basis as well as those who arrive involuntarily or by law enforcement and will provide a calm, clean and welcoming place for them to access treatment.

Inside the Aurora Santa Rosa Hospital. TLCD Architecture recently completed renovations at this mental health hospital in Santa Rosa, CA. The finishes selected create a warm, welcoming atmosphere conducive to healing. The same design approach is being used in the Sonoma County Crisis Stabilization Unit.

The Crisis Stabilization Unit is the second mental health services project TLCD has worked on – the first being the recently completed 95-bed Aurora Santa Rosa Hospital, mentioned in the article.

Mental health facilities present a wide range of design challenges and requirements. Clients need a safe and secure place in which to be treated where they cannot harm themselves or others, and the built environment should support that. Staff also need to be able to observe and monitor clients at all times. The finishes play a large role in creating a warm and welcoming environment while also being durable. The right finishes and color palette can help create a hospitality feel rather than an “institutional” feel. Natural lighting is used as much as possible because evidence has shown that natural light helps balance moods and aids the healing and recovery process. As Stephen Parsons, client case manager at the facility noted in the article, “It will be the kind of place where people who walk in will feel welcome.”

TLCD’s design team has worked closely with the Crisis Stabilization Unit care providers to create a space that will greatly improve emergency mental health care for Sonoma County residents. The work is interesting, complex and challenging. It is also very satisfying to know that the work we do will help improve care for some of the most vulnerable people in our community.

The Emergency Department – Considerations for Innovative and Strategic Design

Kaiser Permanente, TLCD Architecture, Emergency Department Design, The Center for Healthcare Design
Kaiser Santa Rosa Emergency Department, completed 2010

By Julie Wycoff

I recently had the pleasure of attending a conference focused on Emergency Department design hosted by The Center for Healthcare Design and held at the AIA San Francisco. TLCD Architecture is a corporate affiliate of the CHC which gives us access to a wide array of seminars, webinars and conferences related to healthcare design. The topics presented at the ED Design Conference delved deeply into the current thinking of how Emergency Departments are designed and organized with an eye to better addressing long wait times, delivery of care, and responding to an ever-changing healthcare environment. The presenters were a mix of healthcare providers and designers specializing in Emergency Department design.

Over the course of the discussions, some key themes emerged:

  1. Eliminate Triage

Triage based intake practices are outdated and increase wait times and create backlogs. More and more EDs are going to “Split Flow” patient intake and rapid treatment methods whereby patients are seen immediately and are either treated in a low acuity area or are sent to an ED treatment room. Patients never return to the waiting area, but are constantly kept moving through their care.

  1. Design for Flexibility

Emergency Departments must be designed so that they can respond to all types of patients and all types of events. Rather than designing highly specific treatment rooms, all rooms should be of a universal design that can accept any patient at any time.

  1. Evaluate the Problem

The answer to the problem of overcrowding and long wait times isn’t necessarily adding more treatment rooms or space. Often a thorough evaluation of staffing and patient intake patterns can lead to changes that do not require costly changes to the physical environment.

The Emergency Department is increasingly the primary healthcare access point for many in this country not only for trauma patients but for those with chronic conditions to the mentally ill. As such, EDs must be able to rapidly adapt to these types of patients in addition to everything from an infectious disease outbreak to a natural disaster. Designers and providers can work together to create spaces that can effectively deliver care, provide an organized work environment for staff, and a safe, healing space for patients. Knowing the needs of Emergency Departments and the challenges they face allows TLCD to help our healthcare clients plan their Emergency Departments for the present and future.

It Takes a Team to Skin a Hospital

TLCD Architecture, Kaiser Permanente Santa Rosa, Hospital Reclad, Models

The exterior of the existing Kaiser Santa Rosa Hospital, built in the early 1990s was showing the signs of age and was in need of replacement. TLCD Architecture and Swinerton Builders worked together to replace the exterior building skin with a new composite metal panel system. The project not only provided a solution to a deteriorated exterior, it also reinterpreted the original architecture into a contemporary building. The meticulous installation of the composite metal panels was an important aspect of the design and worked with the complexity of the existing building geometry to modernize the identity of the building and campus. The use of virtual models, physical models and on site mock-ups made the precise installation possible and turned the design intent into reality.

The project needed to be constructed in phases to allow the hospital to remain fully operational throughout construction. The design and construction team worked together with the facility to develop construction sequencing and installation strategies that evolved throughout construction to minimize disruptions to the facility and keep them operational.

TLCD Architecture, Kaiser Permanente Santa Rosa, Hospital RelcadTLCD Architecture, Kaiser Permanente Santa Rosa, Hospital Reclad

It was an amazing process to be a part of and the successful results speak to the teamwork involved to “Skin the Hospital”! Check out this video put together by Swinerton Builders for more on the project.

Another MIlestone for Aurora Behavioral Health

The Aurora Behavioral Health Psychiatric Hospital in Santa Rosa has reached another milestone in their efforts to bring the facility to full operating capacity. TLCD Architecture enjoyed working with Aurora Behavioral Health for the renovation of the facility and are gratified to have been a small part of their efforts to bring quality mental healthcare back to Sonoma County. Please read the North Bay Business Journal article for the full story.

Healthcare Design Conference Highlights

http://www.healthcaredesignmagazine.com/sites/healthcaredesignmagazine.com/files/conference/2013-tours/T05--FH-Orlando-Neurosurgery-moveable-MRI-OR_700X522.jpg

The annual Healthcare Design Conference was held in Orlando Florida this year, and  is put on by the Healthcare Design Magazine and The Center for Health Design.  As an attendee of the four-day conference I came away with inspiration, information and invigoration. In addition to the exceptional facility tours, educational sessions, roundtable discussions and networking events, the keynote speakers stood out as the highlight of the conference.

Debra Levin (President and CEO of the Center for Health Design) provided inspiration in her opening address and reminded everyone that we are all working toward the common goal to improve healthcare delivery. The conference was full of chatter about the  Kid President video she showed during her address.

Thomas Goetz (former Executive Editor, Wired Magazine, and Author of The Decision Tree) talked about new ideas and technologies that can mitigate failure and optimize innovation in hospitals, clinics, and other healthcare infrastructure. He touched on everything from data visualization to workplace workarounds, and emphasized the opportunity everyone in the healthcare profession has to apply design thinking to their day-to-day routine.

Michael Murphy (Executive Director and Co-Founder of MASS Design Group) was the recipient of the Changemaker Award, and shared his experience  working with the Butaro Hospital in Rwanda, assisting with architectural solutions to mitigate and reduce the transmission of airborne diseases like tuberculosis.

Jake Poore (President and Chief Experience Officer, Integrated Loyalty Systems and former Disney Executive) closed the conference by sharing practical examples from a 20-year Disney veteran, who is now a “human architect” driven to elevate patient experiences, how patient-driven healthcare design links directly to patient satisfaction and, consequently, the success of the healthcare organization.

Having attended several of these conferences over the years, I find myself using the information and evidence based design resources I learn about in my day to day work on projects and in discussions with clients. TLCD Architecture is a Corporate Affiliate of The Center for Health Design, and I was thrilled to participate in a focus group discussion about next years conference being held in San Diego, CA. The 2014 Healthcare Design Conference will be in an amazing venue and full of relevent evidence-based design information and is well worth attending for professions related and associated with healthcare.

Local Impact of the Affordable Care Act

The North Bay Business Journal‘s annual Healthcare Conference was held today and the impact of the Affordable Care Act was discussed by a panel of North Bay healthcare leaders and another panel of insurance brokers.

North Bay Business Journal's Health Care Conference and Healthiest Companies in the North Bay Awards will take place on Wednesday, Nov. 13, at Hyatt Vineyard Creek in Santa Rosa from 8-11:30 a.m.

As one of the attendees from TLCD Architecture‘s healthcare studio, I was left with two distinct impressions about the current healthcare landscape that are surprisingly quite different from national news reports: optimism and honesty.

Optimism: Both panels concurred that the current “pay for service” healthcare model is outdated, broken and unsustainable. The panels also agreed that the Affordable Care Act that transforms our healthcare system to focus on healthy outcomes through quality healthcare instead of quantity healthcare is the right approach.

Honesty: The panelists also agreed that the Affordable Care Act is not perfect nor is it a complete disaster. It is an opportunity to reshape our healthcare system that will take time and evolution to achieve a system that serves our communities to improve our health and happiness.

The coming months will be full of turbulence and growing pains, but only time will tell if the opportunity presented by the Affordable Care Act will be pursued with optimism and honesty.

Much Anticipated Psychiatric Hospital Opens in Santa Rosa

As healthcare architects, it’s always rewarding to be a part of a team delivering quality healthcare projects and services. It’s particularly gratifying when those services enrich the lives of people in our own community. The opening of Aurora Behavioral Health Care’s Psychiatric Hospital in Santa Rosa marks the return of inpatient mental health services that have been absent from Sonoma County since 2008.

TLCD Architecture’s team worked closely with Aurora Behavioral Health Care on an extensive renovation of this 52,000 square foot facility once owned by St. Joseph Health System. With the addition of 17 new patient beds, the hospital now has a total capacity of 93 inpatient beds and will meet the much-needed demand for services for adolescents, adults and senior citizens in the North Bay.

The project required significant building infrastructure and interior improvements to meet OSHPD and California Department of Health Services standards. The result is a state-of-the art facility that includes semi-private patient rooms, self-contained nurse stations, activity rooms and a variety of outdoor exercise areas. The hospital’s interior has an overall warm color palette and comfortable contemporary furniture with an emphasis on sustainability.

TLCD Architecture was dedicated to this project and I speak for our entire team when I say we are thrilled to see it’s full realization as a place of healing for the community.

TLCD Architecture Sponsor of NBBJ Health Care Conference

The North Bay Business Journal held it’s annual Health Care Conference today at the Hyatt Vineyards Creek with two panel discussions focused on the timely topic of the Affordable Care Act.  For the 4th consecutive year, TLCD Architecture was a Major Sponsor of this event which brought health care professionals together for a post-election discussion by local insurance brokers with expertise in employee benefits, as well as a distinguished panel of local providers of health care plans.

Attending from TLCD Architecture were Jason Brabo, Stephen Peakes, Jaime Stich, Suzanne Nagorka, Monica Moore and Marina Starkey. “As a local architectural firm engaged in the industry, it’s gratifying to see health care leaders working through the intricacies of this new legislation and advocating for improved health care outcomes,” said Jason Brabo, Principal and Healthcare Studio Leader at TLCD.

TLCD’s Kaiser Permanente Santa Rosa Hospital Expansion Wins ENR’s Best Healtcare Project

TLCD Architecture attended the 2011 ENR California Best Projects awards  on December 12th  as a member of the Kaiser Permanente Santa Rosa Hospital Expansion team that won the ENR Best Healthcare Project category. The award is a reflection of the great teamwork between the Owner, Design Team and Contractor who all shared a common goal to make this the best project possible. The Hospital Expansion opened a year ago and also won the North Bay Business Journal’s Top Project award. Congratulations to the whole team!

Sidney R Garfield Center Open House

Yesterday, Bill, Julie, Suzanne and myself were invited to tour the Sidney R. Garfield, The Health Care Innovations Center to see the mocked-up medical spaces and to test out the new Steelcase Furniture Standards.  The Garfield Innovation Center is a living laboratory where ideas are tested and solutions are developed in a hands-on, mocked-up clinical environment.  The environments we toured were, a Patient Room, Micro Clinic, Innovation Refresh Area, NICU, C-Section Room, Labor + Delivery Room and at the end we tested out the different furniture seating options provided by Steelcase.

Another important element that we viewed and experienced in the Micro Clinic was Kaiser branding tool, the Total Health Environments.  The Total Health Environments is about creating innovative, people and eco friendly environments that are less sterile than in the past and are cost effective.  This was demonstrated by the use of fresh paint colors, sustainable materials such as linoleum flooring, recycled tile, the use of modular nurse stations, energy efficient lighting and testing of different types of light fixtures.

Check out the pictures from the Garfield Center.

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McCarthy Library and Kaiser Hospital Expansion Honored at Top Projects Awards

TLCD was out in force at last night’s 2010 Top Project’s Awards, hosted by the North Bay Business Journal. Alan Butler, Jason Brabo, Stephen Peakes, Brian Wright, Mark Adams, Nate Bisbee, Suzanne Nagorka and Marina Starkey represented TLCD Architecture at this event which showcases the top real estate projects in the North Bay. Linda Challoner accepted the award for the Kaiser Hospital Expansion on behalf of Kaiser Permanente Santa Rosa, and Dan TerAvest accepted the award for the stunning McCarthy Library at Napa Valley College. Winning two Top Project Awards this year is a testament to TLCD’s long-term relationships and spirit of collaboration with our valued clients!

What Happens in Vegas …

…will slowly filter into the HealthCare Studio and diffuse into the rest of the office.

Between Nov. 13-16 (yes writing this blog post took a while) Jamie and I attended the Health Care Design 2010 Conference in Las Vegas.  For those who have never heard of the Health Care Design Conference it is an annual conference of Health Care Designers, Facility Managers, and Health Care Providers that focus on the research and progress of design in the health care environment, particularly evidence based design. 

The 4 day event gave us the opportunity to be part of unique discussions on topics ranging from “Codes and Standards: How they Affect the Design of Patient Rooms” to the “Light Health and Energy Efficiency”.  In general the presentation focused on presenting research finding and lessons learned from around the world. Many of the topics I was involved in focused on Energy Efficiency in the Health Care environment and the design and theory of design of psychiatric facilities. In terms of the design of psychiatric facilities some of the most interesting discussion occurred around the difference in how risk management affect design in the US vs facilities abroad. US facilities tend to be designed in a very risk averse manner where the concern is placed on preventing every possible method of damage to both the facility and patient where as many of the facilities shown outside of the US exhibit less emphasis on preventing incidents and more focused on the design providing a healing environment.  To paraphrase on of the presenter (Stefan Lundin of White Arkiteker AB)  ‘we should design for the 95% percent of the time good things happen not the 5% of the time bad things happen. Because it is that 95% of the time that good design can help patients in these facilities.’  As side note another great psychiatric project to look at by BIG + JD is the Helsingor Psychiatric Facility. 

If anyone is interested in learning more about the lectures and discussions that were attended please let me know, in many cases we have digital versions of the presentations.

Additionally Jaime and I were also able to tour two different healthcare facilities in Las Vegas, the Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health (by Gehry) and the Department of Veteran Affairs Las Vegas Medical Center.  Images of both of these facilities as well as images of Las Vegas will be available on the TLCD flickr account soon.  Although if you itching to see images of the Lou Ruvo Center along with a scattering of other images from Vegas you can see them now here.

On a Vegas note I was struck by Daniel Libeskind’s  new building ‘Crystals’ in City Center.  Of all the buildings on the Vegas Strip this one was probably the most well executed and cleanly detailed. The interesting part was that even given the angularity and organized chaos in the space it was one of the most calming spaces in Vegas to be in.  There are some additional photographs of the space I took in the same set of images linked to earlier (towards the bottom).

TLCD Gang at the 2010 Sonoma County Healthcare Conference

Yesterday several of us attended the North Bay Business Journal’s 2010 Sonoma County Healthcare Conference. TLCD Architecture has been a sponsor of this event for the past three years and was encouraged by the strong turnout at our booth. “What is an architecture firm doing at a health conference”, you ask? Great question! Since this was overwhelmingly the most frequent question at last year’s conference we decided to beat everyone to the punch and place tent cards on all the tables encouraging attendees to stop by our booth and find out why we were there! It was very successful and many people stopped by and entered to win our fitness package that we raffled off at the end of the conference. So why was an architecture firm at a healthcare conference you ask? TLCD is committed to our local healthcare community and feel it is our responsibility to be sure all the health providers in our area are aware of the award winning design services that are available to them in their back yard. Many healthcare providers, especially the smaller or independent practitioners are not familiar with the rigorous review and planning regulations that are involved in order to realize their maintenance and expansion plans. In all, we had a great time meeting people in our community who share our commitment to healthcare excellence and informing them about how TLCD can assist them by improving the quality of their facilities for their members. Thanks to Marina and Bridgett for all their hard work and preparations, it really showed!

New Kaiser Hospital Tower Opens

Kaiser Medical Center

Kaiser Santa Rosa hosted a grand opening for their new hospital tower expansion designed by TLCD Architecture. The 146,400 sf expansion nearly doubles the size of the hospital and includes a new emergency department, intensive care unit, interventional radiology suite, MRI, nuclear medicine center, and additional patient beds.

TLCD Architecture’s patient centered design of the hospital expansion brings the healthcare providers closer to the patients, encourages family participation in the healing of their loved ones, and is respectful of the enviornment with sustainable materials and features.

For more information about this project:

Santa Rosa Press Democrat

North Bay Business Journal

Check out photos from the grand opening ceremony.

Welcome Back Trailer Team!

Jack, Julie, Dayna and Bill

Monday, TLCD held a BBQ on the main deck to welcome the Kaiser trailer team back to the office. After being offsite for 2 years, the team will usher the new Northwing hospital expansion (82 bed addition; 146,400 sqft.) to completion by October 2010. Working closely with OSHPD from day one, the team was able to obtain approval for the hospital expansion in a unprecedented 15 months, with no deferred approvals.

Our office was able to provide Kaiser with the Architectural Design, Interior Design, Master Planning/Disruption Planning, Medical Planning/ Programming, Equipment Planning, Furniture Planning, Project Management, and BIM Consulting/Implementation.

Well done!

Welcome back everyone, thanks for all of your (continuing) hard work!

Kaiser Santa Rosa Construction Tour

Yesterday we piled into the elevator… as Julie Wycoff, Bill McNearney, and Dayna Barron-Stagg led a large group from TLCD through the Kaiser Hospital North Wing Expansion in Santa Rosa.

It is still under construction for a few more months, but the addition of furniture and equipment is really starting to make the space come to life!

Kaiser Santa Rosa Hospital Expansion featured in NBBJ article

The North Bay Business Journal featured an article in the June 7th edition titled “Kaiser Tower hits milestone toward October opening”. The project recently met a major milestone, receiving a certificate of occupancy from OSHPD which moves it ever closer to the October 10th grand opening. Jason Brabo was interviewed for this article and describes several of the features of the new facility that will improve patient care and staff efficiencies. As one of the largest construction projects in the North Bay, the Kaiser Hospital Expansion will provide much needed patient facilities to the community.

Kaiser Santa Rosa Emergency Fuel Project

On Wednesday December 16th, a significant milestone in the Kaiser Santa Rosa project was reached when the new emergency fuel tank was landed on its pad.  The project, which grew out of a conversation with the Hospital in January 2009, involves adding a new 15,000 gallon above-ground fuel tank with provision for an additional 15,000 gallon tank in the future in the yard at the hospital.  Currently, the hospital is served by a 10,000 gallon underground tank that is 22 years old and reaching the end of its service life.  The new tank and fuel system will allow the hospital to decommission their existing underground tank at a future date while keeping emergency systems available without interruption.

Trailer and tank blocking traffic on Mendocino Ave.
Missed it by that much . . .

Backing the tank down the fire lane, there wasn’t much room for error.  Here, he avoids a light standard by ¾ inch.  It should be noted that the driver kept his elbow out the window for the entire time he was backing this massive tank down a very narrow fire lane.

The tank leaves the trailer.

Two men spin the 45,000 pound tank with two lines.

Of course, the tank was oriented backwards on the trailer, so it had to be rotated 180 degrees.

The tank has landed.

And there it is.

While this isn’t the most photogenic project we’ve done for the Hospital, when completed our work will significantly improve the hospital’s ability to serve our community.

We got authorization from the Owner in May and were able to permit the project through OSHPD and have the tank onsite 7 months later, which is testimony to the good work of Chris Baumbach and Simon Hsieh and the working relationships we’ve developed with HMH, Peterson Mechanical and OSHPD.

New Projects!

Good news, today we heard the Sonoma Valley Community Health Center has selected TLCD as their designer for their new clinic! We have been pursuing this project with Nordby Construction as a design build team for over three months. The project will be located in Boyes Hot Springs, near Sonoma and will be approx. 20,000 sqft. of new construction. The client is very excited about this project and selected our team over two more experienced and qualified teams. Kudos to all involved for their efforts, especially Sara, Domenica and Suzanne!

Also today John Dybczak and I also met with a new client for the renovation of an existing Psychiatric Hospital. The prospective owners have been working with TLCD to procure the property and navigate the escrow process which has recently been closed. They’re eager to move forward with the project and we have begun programming!

Possible new client for the TLCD Healthcare Studio

Is this the future of healthcare? If it is someone will need to design these mobile clinics.

Challenges: Create a solar-powered, light weight, camel friendly design.

“Kenya’s camels recently started sporting some unusual apparel: eco-friendly refrigerators! Some of the African country’s camels are carrying the solar-powered mini fridges on their backs as part of a test project that uses camels as mobile health clinics. Organizers hope the eco-friendly transport system will provide a cheap, reliable way of getting much-needed medicines and vaccines to rural communities in Kenya and Ethiopia.”-inhabitant

Necessity is truly the mother of invention. This is a great, check it out!

TLCD Sponsors Healthcare Conference

For the second year in a row TLCD Architecture was a major sponsor of the North Bay Business Journal’s Healthcare Conference that was held on November 11th. This years conference focused on the current state of healthcare nationally and locally.

11-13-2009 10-27-39 AM
TLCD Booth Graphic

Keynote speaker Ken Shachmut, executive vice president of Safeway Health LLC,  discussed how Safeway took the lead and developed an original program that dramatically cut its health care costs and improved employee health and satisfaction. Take a look at his presentation: KenShachmutSlides.

Hundreds Turn Out for VA Clinic Grand Opening

A couple hundred people turned out Friday afternoon for the grand opening of our new VA clinic on Airport Boulevard. The rain stopped just in time, and several speakers expressed their appreciation to everyone who made the project a success.
Jason, Seth, Orange, Suzanne and Vanessa are to be commended for a job well done. Though primarily an interiors project, our new exterior canopy is a beauty (though looks a bit like the one at NVC Science Building!).
The interiors are spectacular; I was truly impressed by their sophistication. In particular, the selection of multiple, light but very bright paint colors made for a vibrant interior environment. The selection of materials was equally impressive. The project will be professionally photographed next week.
Congratulations to the project team!

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Grand Opening Presentation Under New Canopy
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Lobby
IMG_6147
Waiting Area

 

Healthcare Design 09 Conference

Jason, Stephen and I just returned from the Healthcare Design Conference in Orlando on Wednesday. We had a busy weekend touring hospitals in the Orlando/Daytona area and went on to two days of meetings early in the week. The conference is growing. This year there were 2,600 attendees. Some observations:
• The Florida hospitals we saw were all very nice with a high level of amenity and very focused on patient centered care. These hospitals cost about half what we experience in California. The hospitals are highly competitive and amenity is a big factor in consumer choice.
• At the same time there were a number of Evidence Based Design initiatives in the hospitals there was a noticeable lack of sustainable design. The building exteriors (throughout Florida) had no external shading or orientation specific response. The interiors and systems had very little apparent concern for energy conservation or sustainable materials. While one architect from a firm’s New York office wrote a prominent book on sustainable healthcare architecture and spoke at the conference on those topics, her colleagues could not speak to any of those sorts of initiatives in their Florida projects.
• I went to some very good roundtables and education sessions. The access to the people leading the charge and publishing on Evidence Based Design was just great. I found the smaller roundtables to be most engaging.
• There were two distinct groups at the conference, the researchers and the implementers. The researchers were from the largest firms, hospitals and universities. The implementers were primarily architects and those administering hospitals and healthcare facilities. The researchers spent more of their time talking about methodology and process while the implementers were hungry for ideas that they could design into facilities.
We have some new resources:
• Evidence Based Design for Multiple Building Types; EBD moves beyond healthcare, just a little
• Research Laboratories: a logical extension of the healthcare world
• Place Advantage: Applied Psychology for Interior Architecture
• HERD: Health Environments Research and Design, we now subscribe to this journal
These books and journals will reside outside my office on the counter or in the Healthcare Studio. Some good books on Sustainable Healthcare Architecture and the Visual Resource for Evidence Based Design. Alan says “check them out”
ConferenceEDORGinzburg Ext

BIM Adoption and Implementation at MAAP Architects

MAAP (Medical Architecture + Art Projects) is a medium-size multi-disciplinary company, committed to well-considered planning and design of healthcare buildings. Its approach is centered on people and the belief that research and excellence in design can create better medical and therapeutic environments for patients, staff and the public to experience and enjoy. Along with architectural design, it also provides landscape design and interior design services. While healthcare design is the primary project type of the firm, it also specializes in art projects.

Great article on how a UK firm, specializing in Healthcare, has adopted and is using BIM, as well as why.

http://www.aecbytes.com/feature/2009/MAAP_study.html