When the
DCH Cancer Center in Tuscaloosa, Ala., opened in 1986, it was a state-of-the-art facility with the capacity to treat eight to 10 patients at a time. Less than 20 years later, the doctors and staff were trying to cope with a patient load that had grown to double the center’s capacity. Ward Scott Veron Architects Inc., Tuscaloosa, was retained to design a new cancer center with an environment conducive to the healing of the whole patient-mind, body and spirit.
Completed in March, the first phase of the outpatient center expansion consisted of a state-of-the-art medical center with a strong connection to the outdoors. Patients and family enter through a dramatic 100-foot- (30-m-) high domed entry rotunda bathed in natural sunlight streaming through glass curtainwalls. The architects paired poured concrete with Reynobond Aluminum composite material from Alcoa Architectural Products, Eastman, Ga., and glass curtainwalls to give the new facility a modern, contemporary look reflective of the state-of-the-art medical technology used inside.
The Miller-Clapperton Partnership Inc., Austell, Ga., fabricated 16,000 square feet (1,486 m2) of 0.16-inch (4-mm) Reynobond ACM PE core with an Anodic Clear two-coat mica finish for the blades of the sunshade, canopy, rotunda and column covers of the new outpatient center. The architect’s design for the rotunda required almost every panel to be engineered and fabricated to individual specifications-the taper of each panel varies as the dome rises, and each have multiple radius points. R.B. Atkins & Associates Inc., Birmingham, Ala., installed the panels using Miller- Clapperton’s System 100. Harrison Construction Co. Inc., Tuscaloosa, was the general contractor.
The new 94,300-square-foot (8,760-m2) cancer center is four times larger than the original building. The $39 million, three-story center is treating 50 to 60 patients a day in radiation oncology on the main floor, and approximately 120 patients per day in medical oncology on the second floor. Amenities inside and out were designed to make patient visits more convenient-from the exclusive 50-car outdoor lot and the new drop-off area just outside the entry to the soft, soothing colors used on the interior furnishings. The new center has two children’s play areas, meeting rooms for support groups, a café, boutique and chapel with soothing waterfall,in addition to the treatment rooms, offices and labs. A garden terrace on the second floor provides a green, quiet space, while the third floor remains open for future expansion.
Alcoa Architectural Products
