University of Chicago Medicine - Center for Care and Discovery

Creating a safe and efficient environment for patients and staff was the focus of this project for the University of Chicago Medicine's (UCM) Center for Care and Discovery. The project built out two previously shelled floors of the hospital, converting vacant space into 203 new private patient beds along with necessary support spaces. The design process centered on Lean and evidence-based design principles.

Design Approach

UCM embraced several design techniques throughout the project:

• Operations Excellence, including 3P (Production, Preparation, Process), with multiple Kaizen events involving hospital staff and the design team to identify the most efficient processes.

• Experiential Testing through construction of life-size foam mock-ups. These to-scale spaces allowed the client to test the efficiency of a variety of patient room layouts before construction.

• Functional Creativity that went beyond industry standards to address patient needs directly, resulting in "assisted-accessible" patient bathrooms that allow staff to assist patients temporarily disabled by illness or surgery.

Project Team and Recognition

Design services were provided by the Albert Kahn Associates, Architrave, and Milhouse team, with Albert Kahn Associates serving as architect and MEP/fire protection engineer, Architrave as associate architect, and Milhouse as associate MEP/fire protection engineer.

The project was completed two months ahead of schedule, with crews logging 460,000 work hours in an active hospital on a tight urban site without a lost-time accident or recordable incident. In recognition of this achievement, the project received ENR Midwest's 2017 Best Project award in Health Care and its Best Project Safety Award.