United States site instead?Boston, September 17, 2007 – Construction is underway for one of the most seismically safe and family-friendly hospitals in California. When completed, the new Mills-Peninsula Medical Center in Burlingame, CA, will also be among the Golden State’s “greenest” hospitals, achieving more than 30 percent energy efficiency over comparable baselines.
Located near the San Andreas fault line, the Center will be the first base isolated hospital in northern California, meaning that it is built upon isolator bearings utilizing seismic dampers so that it can remain operational after a major disaster. During an earthquake the building will be able to move up to 30 inches horizontally and 2 inches vertically without incurring major damage.
To achieve this high level of seismic safety, architects from Anshen + Allen in San Francisco used Graphisoft’s Archicad to create a 3D building information model (BIM) of the facility. The project team’s subcontractors modeled their respective trades, including mechanical, structural, electrical and plumbing systems. With this collaborative model, the project team was able to run clash detection tests in NavisWorks™ and reduce conflicts prior to construction.
“The project employed a design-assist process involving the general contractor and the major subcontractors to reduce ‘deferred approvals’ and to identify any potential clashes between the building’s various physical systems,” said Mark Tiscornia, project managerat Anshen + Allen. “Archicad facilitated this process by providing a virtual 3D model of the building from which we could communicate our design intent with our partners, perform simulations, and spot interferences before they became expensive construction delays. The cost and time savings that working with a BIM model provides has been one of the project’s greatest investments.”
Mills-Peninsula Medical Center will be a five-story, 410,000 square-foot acute care hospital with a 200,000 square-foot medical office building. The family-friendly facility will feature single-occupancy patient rooms and sleeping accommodations for patients’ families, all with long distance views of the San Francisco Bay’s beautiful natural panorama. Family zones are integrated within each room, and ground-level and roof-top gardens will provide areas for contemplation and distraction. The interior will enjoy increased daylight through floor-to-ceiling windows and internal courtyards.
The building will employ many green building design features including cool roofs, low VOC materials and finishes, furniture and other content built from recycled materials, high-performance glazing, solar shading and efficient ventilation that uses fresh outdoor air.
