IKM and UPMC, Committed to Creating Sustainable Healthcare Facilities

IKM and UPMC, Committed to Creating Sustainable Healthcare Facilities

Seeking to achieve energy reduction for all new buildings as part of the 2030 Commitment, the IKM design team employs knowledge, skill and tools to craft a design befitting each client’s goals and objectives. The design team set their sights on LEED Certification for the new UPMC Hampton Ambulatory Care Center.

“Having recently completed the successful design for the LEED Certified Children’s South Medical Office as well as working on other projects for UPMC, IKM has become a trusted partner in designing facilities that meet community health needs and the UPMC Facilities Department’s goals,” says Mike McDonnell, AIA, principal in charge of the UPMC work.

The UPMC Hampton three-story medical office building, approximately 43,000 square feet, is intended to consolidate several current physician practices in the area into one building to better serve the Hampton Township community. For more than 30 years, UPMC has focused its resources on addressing the needs of patients, and enhancing the quality of life in the communities they serve.  UPMC is a nationally top-ranked health care system headquartered in western Pennsylvania that is committed not only to offering excellent clinical care but also to creating a new model for “green” health care.

“Following in the footsteps of other UPMC construction projects, including Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC, the UPMC Passavant patient pavilion, and UPMC East hospital, UPMC is in the process of planning and designing the UPMC Hampton Ambulatory Care Center with IKM architects, which will be a newly constructed, three-story medical office building,” said a representative from UPMC. Core services designed for the medical office include Internal Medicine, Pediatrics, Women’s Health, Quest Lab Diagnostics, Walk-In Clinic, and Physical Therapy.

To achieve LEED Certification, the design team employed knowledge of strategies that addressed the site, building envelope, and building interior. The project site design features native plantings and incorporates storm water management that captures and treats 90% of storm water runoff. Because of IKM’s sensitivity with the design of the building footprint, the redeveloped site exceeds local zoning requirements for open space.

IKM easily reaffirmed building orientation from the previous site masterplan after a series of solar studies showed advantages in placing the building at the recommended 22 degrees from north.

“We began with knowing what type of footprint we had to work with,” said Kassandra Garza, LEED AP BD+C, graduate architect for IKM. “We used the study diagrams in BIM Revit design software to document which shapes and forms provided the best opportunities for overall daylighting and passive heating and cooling strategies.” The IKM design solution allowed for greater spread of daylighting throughout the building, particularly in the public areas.

Combined diagrams

“The team designed building and systems to reduce the energy cost budget by 16% per the ASHRAE Standard 90.1,” said  Pat Branch, PE, president of Loftus Engineers. “We always look at a number of energy conservation methods on each project, this one includes high efficient building envelope system, demand control ventilation, high efficient light systems that include LED lights, occupancy and daylighting sensors,  and reduced domestic hot water demand with low flow plumbing fixtures. At the same time building will provide visible and thermal comfort to occupants.”

Lastly, the team incorporated several materials high in recycled content and regionally sourced. Adhesives, sealants, paint, coatings, flooring systems, and composite wood will be low or no-VOC content.

UPMC Hampton Medical Ambulatory Care Center is currently in the process of completing construction documents that are used for bidding and for the preliminary design submission to the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC). The design submission includes most of the site, water and energy related credits. Once this review is complete, the project team will switch into construction mode. The design and construction team will begin to track recycled content, regional materials, and low VOCs in the building materials and track the indoor air quality of the construction site.

This article adapted from an excerpt in the IKM Green Newsletter, written by Kassandra Garza, LEED AP BD+C, IKM graduate architect on the project. Click HERE to request a pdf copy of the current IKM newsletter.