2025 East Best Projects
Best Health Care: Inova Health Center—Oakville at Potomac Yard

Inova Health Center—Oakville at Potomac Yard
Alexandria, Va.
BEST PROJECT
Submitted by DPR Construction
Owner: Inova Health Care Services
Lead Design Firm: Ballinger
General Contractor: DPR Construction
Civil Engineer: IMEG
Structural Engineer: Ehlert Bryan
MEP Engineer: BR+A
Architect: Ennead Architects LLP
Testing & Inspection: Intertek
The 110,000-sq-ft, four-story outpatient facility is the first element of a planned major expansion of health care services across Northern Virginia. Features include a full-service 14-room emergency department, surgery center, imaging services and a primary care center with ambulatory surgery and primary/specialty care spaces. Sharing the block with a residential complex, the facility features below-grade parking and additional integrated services as well as a café lounges and a multipurpose room for community events.
Photo courtesy DPR Construction
The complex, customized exterior facade and glass screen assembly integrates four distinct systems—curtain wall, glass fiber reinforced concrete (GFRC), metal panel and a post-tensioned glass screen supported by roof-connected steel tension cables. During glass screen installation, the structural steel support for the cables did not perform as expected. Immediate collaboration sessions led to a steel reinforcement plan for the 60 roof cables, including adjustments to sequencing of work and trade schedules. This unified commitment enabled the team to maintain the critical path schedule despite the complexity, completing the new facility on schedule and at budget.
Photo courtesy DPR Construction
Other key design elements include a double-height lobby with a striking 32-ft custom hickory wood canopy wall and a green roof and landscaped terrace. Targeting LEED Gold, the facility incorporates energy-efficient systems, including air source heat pumps that simultaneously produces all of the building’s hot and cold water. Using the industry’s newest technology, the team worked closely with the manufacturer and MEP subcontractors to balance the system, adding bypasses and volume to manage excess heat during peak cooling.
Photo courtesy DPR Construction
The concurrent construction of the outpatient facility with the adjacent residential building required close coordination between the two teams. The residential contractor built the shared parking garage, which doubles as the outpatient facility’s structural slab, with both buildings sharing a wall to the second floor. The residential project’s single crane also served the outpatient facility, with carefully scheduled use to avoid delays for time-sensitive tasks such as concrete pours.


