SKOLNICK SURGICAL TOWER

Background

The project adds a seven-story surgical tower and ED expansion onto an existing medical campus structure in uniquely positioned in one of the most beautiful sites in the world, with great views of the city across the bay.

The form of the hospital is a curvilinear trapezoid which positioned patient rooms toward views, modulated the interior corridor to avoid the endless corridor effect and created efficiency for the floor plate.

The unique shape and tight construction site, tight construction schedule, and need to respond to code dictated storm and ballistic resistance, as well as the hospital’s administrations concerns for hardening and resiliency, made precast the obvious choice.

In addition to the curvilinear plan for the geometry the vertical face of the wall geometry, also curves to form eyebrows which shield the glazing from the intense sun and modulate the scale of the building by casting shadow. This wall panel form could not have been achieved without the precast because of the inherent fluidity of the material.

The medical center holds a distinguished position in the medical community and as a prominent and uniquely beautiful part of a beach island. It was important to the medical center to create a structure that represented the contemporary vision of the institution and to give a nod to the contemporary art scene of the city. The new surgical tower is shaped to embrace the wonderful view of the ocean and the city’s skyline across the bay. The building references the city’s vernacular construction of white plaster through the use of white precast concrete, which takes on and reflects the changing color of the surroundings as they change throughout the day as the sun is modulated by clouds, time of day and time of year.

The building’s gentle curved elevations focus the patient view toward the beautiful vistas unique to this healing facility. The wall panels curve in sections, as well as in plane, creating a sun shading eyebrow which emerges from the vertical face of the panel and disappears into the vertical face of the panel across the length of the façade. These 3-dimensional eyebrows shield the patient rooms from the intense sun by creating moving shadows that help break down the scale of the surgical tower.

The architect and precaster had collaborated on projects in the past and it was clear this design was going to take a precaster who was interested in projects that show the limitless possibilities of the precast medium. The design-assist collaboration not only reinforced the design but allowed input and influence on the issues of schedule, phasing and site constraints.

Perhaps it was fitting the unique shapes of these wall panels would eventually be positioned seaside, since the precaster employed shipbuilders to create the gentle smooth compound curved formwork creating a seamless and flawless compound shape. Sadly, the difficulty of execution will be lost to most who view the medical center because the structure’s straightforward and simple look and the compound shape are uninterrupted across the length of all the facades.

In some ways, the execution mimics the awesome beauty one finds in nature, when complex geometry, structure and beauty are so intertwined you cannot help but simultaneously recognize the natural logic and be awestruck at the same time.

Design Challenges

This project has a unique design signature very few projects have. It required a tremendous amount of collaboration between the precaster and the architect. The hospital tower has no straight lines and is designed almost entirely with compound curves forming a three-dimensionally shaped façade. Many of the pieces are in a shape that resembles a hat visor, so they extend to an apex then get shorter again. These large sunshading eyebrow elements break up the building and catch the sun’s rays.

Innovations/Accomplishments

The wall panels curve in plan, curve in section and the curve changes longitudinally across panel creating a compound complex curved wall panel. Creation of the mold for the precast’s unique geometry was made possible by advances in technology, such as the increasingly popular Building Information Modeling. BIM software enabled the designer to breach creative boundaries. The precaster has embraced the technology and was able to speak the same language.

Photos via GATE Precast Company and George Nikolajevich