Bayhealth Medical Center, Kent Campus Expansion

Key Facts: Location: Dover, Del.
Owner: Bayhealth Medical Center, Dover, Del.
Contractor: Whiting-Turner, Newark, Del.
Architect, Engineer: EwingCole, Philadelphia
Start Date: January 2009
Completion Date: November 2011

The second $140-million phase of Bayhealth Medical Center�s Kent General Hospital in Dover, Del., broke ground in January 2009. The 440,500-sq-ft pavilion includes an expanded emergency department, integrated oncology center and medical conference facilities.

�This project involved the transformation of a graying campus,� says Howard Skoke, a principal with the architectural and engineering firm EwingCole of Philadelphia. �It adds a clinical podium/tower, central services building and parking garage to create a new image and operational model for the hospital.�

The pavilion serves as a platform for future clinical functions and a 10-story, 225-bed patient care tower. EwingCole designed it for vertical, horizontal and remote expansion. It provides a hub for the campus and links to all existing buildings. A universal column grid and ample floor-to-floor heights can accommodate a variety of functions over time.

EwingCole created a new front door and lobby as a central hub. The first-floor public corridor links the lobby to new emergency department, garage, elevators and existing vertical circulation cores in other buildings. The layout segregates public and staff circulation. Material handing and major equipment, such as chillers and boilers, were relocated to the central services building

Whiting-Turner plans to complete the expansion in November 2011. The project is part of a 50-year master plan developed by EwingCole for the site in 2005.