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Hospital
Site Design: Creating a Positive Experience from the
Start
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When a parent brings a child with a broken arm into
a hospital facility, the last thing on the parent’s
mind is how the facility was designed. But creating an
environment that allows easy access for cars, pedestrians
and emergency vehicles while at the same time addressing
such natural issues as stormwater drainage is foremost
in the minds of the landscape architects at Ecos who
design such facilities.
Each site that Ecos approaches for design of a new healthcare
campus provides its own unique set of challenges. Ranging
in scale, discipline and complexity, these challenges
are integrated through the careful study of the critical
and immediate nature of a twenty four hour healthcare
facility.
The early planning stages of a healthcare campus involve
in-depth inventory and analysis of the topography, geology,
surrounding conditions, site history as well as discussions
with the authorities having federal, state, regional
or local jurisdiction over the property. Past site challenges
have included regional stormwater management requirements,
wetland mitigation, wetland preservation and even sinkhole
prone karst geology. Working with these different site
challenges often helps dictate site circulation as well
as our stormwater management approach. The site circulation
is a complex balance of pedestrian, visitor, concerned
parent or family member, emergency management services
on the ground and in the air, as well as twenty four
hour service and support. Once the critical needs and
routes are determined, the the site determines how most
appropriate to balance parking and open space while integrating
stormwater management.
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Integration of stormwater into the landscape in a naturalistic
layout that highlights the unique character of each site
is a critical design element of all of our campus designs.
Different methods of management have included constructed
wetlands, stream bank restoration, stilling ponds, bioswales,
and porous pavements. The scale of the stormwater management
reflects the state, regional or local needs. Some sites
have necessitated the integration of an entire region’s
stormwater volume while others have addressed the volume
from just our site’s own footprint. Once the requirements
are realized, we focus on volume and quality at the source
of the stormwater though the use of source point techniques
such as the larger than typical parking medians and islands
which provides an opportunity to infiltrate stormwater
for each bay of parking. These larger islands also permit
more superior tree planting spaces throughout the parking
lot creating healthy shaded lots which aids in reducing
the ‘heat island’ effect.
The use of native trees and plants integrated throughout
the landscape provides a healthy environment that is
thriving within the site’s unique characteristics.
Local experts and even local suppliers are used as a
resource to ensure a plant palette that is most appropriate
for each unique site. In certain specialized conditions
Ecos hires local experts to help ensure plant communities
and construction will flourish in the sensitive microclimate
it is designed for, such as constructed wetlands or wetland
restorations.
This extra commitment combined with carefully research
and study, has consistently established healthy environments
that meets the complex needs of a twenty four hour emergency
care facility.
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