WILLISTON, Vt. – E4H Environments for Health Architecture has been selected to design Ellis Medicine’s facility master plan. Ellis Medicine, which features a 438-bed hospital in Schenectady, New York, will study siting solutions for the reorganization of the entire campus.
Following a recent emergency department expansion and addition of a new parking structure at Ellis Hospital, Ellis Medicine issued a request for proposals for a facility master plan to identify how it should evolve to meet changing healthcare needs and requirements, specifically on its main campus. E4H Architecture was selected for its deep healthcare experience, collaborative planning process and Lean operational mindset.
Using Evidence-Based Design and workflow consulting, E4H Architecture’s Ellis Hospital facility master plan will incorporate designs for:
- A new main entrance that is reflective of the Ellis Medicine brand and values while welcoming patients and enhancing their experience
- Converting all semi-private patient rooms to private rooms while maintaining bed count
- Optimizing departmental and service locations for flexibility and future growth
- Replacing the existing 700-car parking structure with a new structure that would hold 1,150 cars
E4H Architecture’s project team will begin with a four-week needs assessment and facility survey, reviewing patient and employee data, as well as the physical condition of the buildings. Over the course of the following six weeks, architects will perform a program assessment to explore existing services and identify departmental initiatives using highly interactive planning tools. E4H designers will then lead a 12-week creative discovery of facility options using a two-team approach to generate multiple original design options. These options will be presented to the hospital team through the firm’s proprietary software, allowing for interactive virtual reality sessions to review and modify options in real time and build consensus. The project team will deliver its final report in December 2017, outlining the programmatic assessment and proposed solutions for the reorganization of the campus.
