The OU Medicine patient tower, under construction on the OU Medicine health campus located in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and slated for opening late next year, reached its highest structural point with a topping out ceremony.
The new patient tower will span 450,000 square feet over nine floors (eight of those above ground), with room to grow. This marks the first ground-up hospital construction project for OU Medicine since 1975.
The expansion will add 144 beds and 32 operating rooms to help support the needs of patients treated at Stephenson Cancer Center, those undergoing critical and complex surgical procedures, those with trauma-related injuries and more.
Pertaining to the exterior design, Ron Stelmarski, design director and principal with Perkins and Will, states that the expansion is “designed to be a world-class healing facility that is at once resilient and poetic.” Its interesting shape “evolved out of a desire to connect the building to its site – it creates an iconic reference to the wind-shaped natural formations of Oklahoma, helps reduce the visual bulk of the tower and maximizes the views toward other local landmarks, such as the existing hospital campus, the downtown Oklahoma City skyline and the Oklahoma State Capitol building.”
The project team includes Perkins and Will and Turner Construction.
Photo and renderings courtesy of Perkins and Will.
