HealthSouth Digital Hospital
Birmingham, Alabama
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Studies: Healthcare>HealthSouth Digital Hospital  In
November 2001, national healthcare provider HealthSouth Corporation broke
ground to build the world’s first all-digital hospital. Located
on the corporate headquarters campus in Birmingham, Alabama, the
1,000,000-square-foot facility incorporates all the latest digital technology
the new millennium has to offer. The hospital portion of the
campus includes a 13-story structure and a 10-story 1,500-car parking
garage. The lower 5 stories of the hospital have a footprint of 123,000
square feet that reduces to a 37,000-square-foot tower above the fifth
floor.
The first 5 floors house typical hospital functions including medical
diagnostics, MEP equipment, food preparation, materials logistics, and
administrative support. Specialty functions include 3 MRI units, gamma
knife, and 20 operating suites with space potential for 10 more. The gamma
knife is on the second floor of the building, which required special framing
to support the 24-inch-thick walls and 20-inch-thick ceiling. This
gamma knife is one of a few in the country to be supported on a framed
floor. Vibration was a prime consideration in the design of the
structure given the high-tech operating suites. Cast-in-place
reinforced concrete was a natural choice to address the curved plan view,
support heavy loads from the special equipment, and reduce vibration concerns.
The patient bed portion of the tower comprises floors 6 through 12 with
a mechanical penthouse occupying the 13th floor. The tower plan dimensions
are 360 feet long and 110 feet wide. The 3 to 1 rectangular aspect of
the building and the short 110-foot width presented a challenge to lateral
load design. Nevertheless, concrete frames rather than shearwalls
were used for lateral load resistance to provide space flexibility.
The typical floor is a concrete beam and slab system composed of 25-inch-deep
beams and 6-inch-thick slabs. The floors were formed using plywood and
steel-plate-connected wood trusses in lieu of steel or fiberglass pan
form systems. Concrete strengths for the typical 30x30-inch columns ranged
from 8,000 psi in the lower levels to 5,000 psi in the upper levels.
The post-tensioned cast-in-place concrete parking deck will be built adjacent
to
the hospital with 4 stories below grade and 6 stories above. Typical bays
are framed with girders spanning 60 feet and a 6-inch-thick slab spanning
27 feet between the girders.
The fast track schedule challenged the design team, but the concrete frame
facilitated delivery of multiple packages broken down into foundations
and floors. Structural packages were issued over two months in advance
of architectural packages. The contractor began foundations in
May 2002 and topped out the million-square-foot structure one year later.
A steel option could not support this schedule due to mill order, detailing,
and fabrication delays. The contractor placed more than 52,000 yards of
concrete in the structure and 4,800 cubic yards in site walls. Given a
40-hour work week, concrete was poured at the rate of 25 yards an hour
throughout the year of construction. Fast turnaround, timely completion,
and early occupancy were only possible with concrete. An additional
23,700 yards of concrete in the parking structure will serve HealthSouth
patients and employees for years to come.
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| Owner:
HealthSouth
Corporation, Inc.
Architect:
CLA, Inc.
Birmingham, AL
Kirksey Architecture Houston, TX
Structural Engineer:
LBYD, Inc.
Birmingham, AL
General Contractor:
Brasfield & Gorrie, LLC Birmingham, AL
Concrete Suppliers
Sherman Ready Mix
USA Ready Mix Birmingham, AL
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