Patient Centered Sustainable Design: 3/8 at Building Energy 12

Attending Building Energy 12 Conference this week? Be sure to check out Session 6 – Design Strategies for Patient Centered Sustainable Design in Complex Healthcare Facilities on Thursday 3/8.

Chris Baylow from PAYETTE and Jacob Knowles from BR+A will discuss integrating sustainable design and the healing environment. They will take attendees through a comprehensive sustainable design and building performance design strategy, and the processes and tools used to develop and evaluate energy conservation measures for a long-term healthcare facility.  See speaker profiles here.

The design of the Veterans Affairs Spinal Cord Injury (SCI) Long-term Care Facility when complete, will comply with Federal Mandates for sustainability and energy reduction by optimizing energy performance, protecting and conserving water, and enhancing indoor environmental quality. The SCI Facility will be presented as a case study that integrates energy reduction strategies at the scale of the site, building envelope and systems, and the healing environment of the patient. Chris and Jacob will first provide an overview of the programmatic goals of the project, and the performance requirements outlined in the VA’s Sustainable Design & Energy Reduction Manual and in LEED 2009 Green Building Rating System for Healthcare. They will then take the attendees through an iterative process of evaluating a range of energy conservation measures to meet these standards and the overall project goals. A particular focus will be the effective use of early stage energy modeling as a means to evaluate energy reduction strategies through the lenses of energy effiicency, carbon reduction, first cost, life cycle cost, and the positive contribution to the healing environment. Finally, Chris and Jacob will provide insights as to how concensus was built with the VA Central Office to arrive at a holisitc approach to energy conservation that satisfies the project goals.

 
Angela Watson and Greg Heiges from Shepley Bulfinch discuss Smilow Cancer Hospital at Yale-New Haven and the sustainable strategies that advance patient healing. It starts with the building envelope, which allows for the intake of natural light and spectacular views where such opportunities to stimulate a patient’s senses would not exist in traditional layout. The design brings nature to its compromised patients who may be restricted to the parameters of the floor, with floor-to-ceiling glazing units at the ends of corridors.  Rather than monopolize the floor plate area, the design offers views from the patient bed tower deep into the New Haven Valley, a vehicle for hope and a connection with the outside world. Rather than maximizing the 14-story hospital’s floor plate, the owner saw an opportunity to improve patient healing time by using a setback of the building envelope at the seventh floor to create an award-winning healing garden. An oasis in the dense urban environment, the garden is approached from the interior through glass panels that offer unobstructed views of its rich landscape. Upon entering the garden, a patient can breathe fresh air, touch plant life, and watch running water make its way into an illuminated pool. From above, patient rooms above overlook the garden. At entry level, a richly landscaped planter follows the streetscape. From patient floor to garden, from light-filled corridor to entry plaza, Smilow uses light and nature to offer patients certain to afford every patient a healing environment. Smilow Cancer Hospital was completed in 2010. The hospital is LEED certified and received a 2011 Award of Merit from the Connecticut Green Building Council. 

The presentation will help attendees understand and apply strategies for integrating natural light in a complex urban medical center; introducing the benefits of nature to stimulate the healing process; and choosing to assign value to complementary exterior spaces over maximizing use of floor plate

Details:
NESEA, Building Energy 12 Conference
3/8/2012, 2:00-3:30PM
Seaport World Trade Center

Session Speakers:
Christopher Baylow, PAYETTE
Jacob Knowles, BR+A
Angela Watson, Shepley Bulfinch
Gregory Heiges, Shepley Bulfinch