Featuring state-of-the-art technology in advanced imaging and diagnostic services, as well as patient and family-centered care, the new $153 million, 94,000-square-foot (8,733-m2) Patient Care Tower at Mission Hospital in Mission Viejo, Calif., opened in November 2009. The new tower makes Mission Hospital the largest in Orange County with 552 beds.
Located next to the existing Mission Hospital five-story tower and pavilion, the new four-level Patient Care Tower includes 44 private rooms, advanced diagnostic imaging, nuclear medicine, the Zimmer Neuroscience Wing specializing in critical care, the Progressive Care & Stroke Unit, the Swenson Family Linear Accelerator Suite and the Schumache Healing Garden. The expansion also includes a new 45-seat chapel open 24-7 to patients and visitors of all faiths. The chapel and healing garden are located between the two towers to invite easy access to the entire community and emphasize the spiritual and holistic healing mission of the hospital, which is a member of the St. Joseph Health System.
Designed by RBB Architects Inc., Los Angeles, the hospital tower promotes healing for patients and provides a comfortable atmosphere for families,along with an enhanced state-of-the-art working environment for hospital staff. Serving as a predominant design element, the half-cylindrical chapel features a glass roof structure supported from the top by radial trusses.
“To provide a state-of-the-art building, it has to look the part,” said Craig S. Laurie, associate with RBB Architects. “No other building system would have worked with the highly technical design. Cladding the building and braced frame in metal provided a clean organized exterior, which complements the large amounts of glass on the exterior. The metal panels form to the building geometries, providing a strong presence on the Mission Medical Center campus.”
McCarthy Building Cos. Inc., Newport Beach, Calif., the general contractor, created a seismically sound tower exterior clad with Alucobond aluminum composite material from Alcan Composites USA Inc., now known as 3A Composites USA Inc., Mooresville, N.C., and includes an external steel braced frame conveying a sense of the highly technological, state-of-the-art patient services provided inside the building. A total of 75,000 square feet (6,968 m2) of 0.16-inch (4-mm) Alucobond ACM was utilized to clad the tower and chapel, including8,000 square feet (743 m2) in custom Rose Metallic, 23,000 square feet (2,137 m2) in Bone White and44,000 square feet (4,088 m2) in Silver Metallic.
North Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada based Keith Panel Systems Co. Ltd. fabricated 3,100 Alucobond panels for the tower and chapel utilizing three-dimensional collision-detecting software. Tower Glass Inc., San Diego, completed the installation of the KPS System A-Plus Dry Joint Pressure Equalized Rainscreen panel system.
“The hospital’s exterior metal panel cladding and exposed braced structural frame convey a sense of the highly technological state-of-the-art activities contained within,” Laurie explained.
Mission Hospital Patient Care Tower, Mission Viejo, Calif.
Award: AIA San Fernando Chapter 2009 Design Award
Architect: RBB Architects Inc., Los Angeles
General contractor: McCarthy Building Cos. Inc., Newport Beach, Calif.
Fabricator: Keith Panel Systems Co. Ltd., North Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Installer: Tower Glass Inc., San Diego
Metal wall panels: 3A Composites USA Inc., Mooresville, N.C., www.alucobondusa.com
