...increasing patient comfort. In health-care construction, “we have started to see a demand for deinstitutionalized designs,” says Tyrell. “Buildings must have private rooms, smaller common areas, and furniture that is residential and not institutional.”

“Technology is what health-care projects are all about,” says McCleskey. “The investment into the technology the building will house actually dwarfs the investment to construct the building itself.”

A $625-million project to build a 1.5-million-sq-ft hospital at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh is being touted as the first paperless, fully digital pediatric hospital in the country. The technology will advance patient care, reduce human error and improve patient, visitor and staff safety while managing costs says CEO Roger A. Oxendale. The hospital is expected to be completed next spring.  In a hospital building, “we want a space that is flexible enough to adjust to exponentially increasing technology,” McCleskey adds.
 
“Patient expectations have really changed in the last five years,” says Eric van Aarem, director of development at Erickson. “You don’t want your new building to be outdated in five years. It’s standard for health-care buildings to be outdated two to three years after opening.”