Hospital provides hotel-like atmosphere
by Jonathan McGaha | October 31, 2009 12:00 am
Completed in February 2008, the Ashley River Tower Hospital in Charleston, S.C., continues the Medical University of South Carolina’s long history of excellent patient care and service. The 641,000- square-foot (59,549-m2) facility specializes in heart and vascular disease, along with digestive diseases,and offers the latest technologies and world-class physicians. Additionally, the hospital was built to provide a hotel-like atmosphere with amenities that include private rooms, concierge service, valet parking,family lounges, wireless capabilities, retail shops and dining areas that further emphasize the hospital’s commitment to excellent patient care while also using advanced technology to help address the increased incidence of cardiovascular and digestive disease among South Carolina’s population.
With a four-story diagnostic and treatment building and seven-story patient hospitality tower, the state-of-the-art building features 156 beds. With an intensive care unit, operating rooms, laboratories, interventional radiology and endoscopy suites and a specialized chest pain center, the hospital offers patients and their families the highest quality of care in a setting that rivals the comfort and style of a fine hotel.
Ashley River Tower was the first health care facility in the U.S. built under new hurricane and seismic construction codes and had to be designed to withstand the three natural disasters that can occur in Charleston-earthquakes, hurricanes and flooding. The hospital’s design also had to be approved by the Charleston’s Board of Architectural Review.
Moon Township, Pa.-based CENTRIA supplied 31,000 square feet (2,880 m2) of 22/26-gauge Formawall Dimension Series 3-inch (76-mm) metal wall panels in Champagne Gold with a smooth striated Sundance AM coating;32,000 square feet (2,973 m2) of 22/26-gauge Formawall Dimension Series 3-inch metal wall panels in Champagne Gold with a smooth Sundance AM coating; 16,400 square feet (1,524m2) of 22-gauge Profile Series IW-40 metal wall panels in Champagne Gold with a smooth Sundance AM coating; and 10,600 square feet (985 m2) of Style-Rib metal wall panels in Champagne Gold with a smooth Sundance AM coating.
The Champagne Formawall Dimension Series and IW Series panels complement the ample glass used on the exterior to help provide natural light. The Sundance AM coating captures the sunlight and helps make color an active facet of the building’s design.
The metal panels from CENTRIA helped the project to achieve the high-tech look needed, while not compromising the desired high-end look. The panels also adhered to the hurricane and seismic construction codes the building was required to meet. Additionally,the IW Series and Formawall Dimension Series panels are Cradle to Cradle Silver certified.
The building is owned by the Medical University Hospital Authority. NBBJ, New York City, was the lead architect; LS3P Associates Ltd., Charleston, was the associate architect; and SECO Architectural Systems Inc., Snellville, Ga., was the dealer and installer. The general contractor was BGKS, a joint venture of Brasfield & Gorrie, Birmingham, Ala.; M.B. Kahn Construction Co. Inc., Columbia, S.C.; and Southern Management Group, Columbia.
CENTRIA
Source URL: https://www.metalarchitecture.com/projects/hospital-provides-hotel-like-atmosphere/