Highland Hospital $70M Modernization Project Adds Four Levels, Mechanical Penthouse

A ribbon-cutting ceremony was held to mark the opening of Highland Hospital’s (Rochester, New York) Southeast Tower Project, a $70-million, 80,000-square-foot modernization effort that will enable the hospital to provide private rooms for nearly all patients.

The main hospital campus building houses surgery on level one, an observation unit on level two and a mechanical space on level three. The new addition will hold general medicine, general surgery, bariatric surgery, gastrointestinal, colorectal, orthopaedic, neurosurgery, vascular, plastics and urology on levels five, six and seven, with a total of 58 private patient rooms, and an additional mechanical floor. One floor will house other clinical programs.

Key design features for patients include larger windows to bring in more daylight and acoustical walls, along with other measures to minimize noise. Ends of corridors feature open glass, large windows and a sun room, with beautiful views looking south over Highland Park. This feature will appeal to patients needing to walk in halls after orthopaedic surgery.

Key design features for staff include central work areas and staff lounges. In addition, each patient care floor will feature nurses’ stations similar to the one on the observation unit. Instead of one centralized station there will be nurses’ stations on each of the four corners of the units. This helps nursing staff have full visibility of patients and makes it easier to care for patients and their needs.

Project team partners included HOLT Architects and LeChase Construction.