Nearly one year after opening, the Case Western Reserve University Sheila and Eric Samson Pavilion at the Cleveland Clinic, located in Ohio, has been converted to a 1,000-bed surge hospital—what the team has named Hope Hospital—for patients who have tested positive for COVID-19. Last April, the four-story, 477,000-square-foot building, built by Donley’s and designed by Foster + Partners with DLR Group as Architect of Record, opened to the public. Now it will serve patients suffering from the novel Coronavirus who are ambulatory but require hospitalization.
Working as part of a large response team, DLR Group, along with Turner Construction, addressed the provisions required to facilitate an environment of care that can accommodate up to 1,000 hospital beds with dedicated-piped oxygen supply, assuring a consistent and uninterrupted delivery critical for the recovery of this respiratory disease.
“By converting an educational building into a building for patient care, the team worked closely with the medical team and local building officials to address the gaps required for a safe patient care environment,” said DLR Group Global Healthcare Leader Phil LiBassi, FAIA, FACHA. “We are in the process of summarizing our findings so we can share with industry partners facing similar concerns.”
By piping the oxygen directly to a headwall at the patient bed location, the need for portable oxygen tanks is eliminated, while still providing a “normative” patient bed setting. The use of scaffolding serves the double purpose of providing a backdrop to patient beds while structurally supporting the oxygen piping. Special consideration was given to adjusting current air ventilation and exhaust systems in the building to balance air quality throughout the facility for healthcare staff.
According to Bill Peacock, chief of operations, Cleveland Clinic, the location was chosen primarily for its proximity and ease of access to Cleveland Clinic’s main campus.
Images courtesy of DLR Group.
