Project Profile: Providence Newberg Medical Center
Part 1: Revisiting the Performance of First LEED Gold Hospital
Part 2: Hospital Design Team Focuses on Computer-Generated Models
Part 3: Hospital Operates on 100 Percent Renewables, Sells Power
Part 4: HVAC, Lighting, Plumbing Initiatives Fuel LEED Certification
Part 5: First LEED Gold Hospital Now a High-Performance Building
Part 6: LEED for Healthcare Addresses Unique Operational Requirements
Hospital Design Team Focuses on Computer-Generated Models
By Chris Matt, Managing Editor - Print & E-Media - June 2011 - Design & Construction
The medical center is comprised of a 138,000-square-foot, 40-bed, acute-care hospital and a 45,000-square-foot medical office building. Providence Health & Services broke ground on the Newberg facility in 2004, and the $70.6 million building was the first hospital the non-profit health system built from the ground up in almost three decades. That lack of recent experience designing and constructing new buildings did not stand in the way of the organization's ambitious sustainability goals.
The project team, on which Schorzman had an integral role, set out to become the nation's greenest hospital by focusing on power, energy efficiency in HVAC and lighting systems, and reduced water use.
"Our primary role early on was for equipment evaluation and equipment selection," Schorzman says. "The design engineers, based on the LEED criteria, gave us a few different options, and we met with vendors and did some field trips to get the best stuff, not only from a LEED perspective, but serviceability and performance."
The first step in the design process was gathering architects, design engineers, consultants, and in-house staff to look at computer-generated models and outline the project in great detail. These meetings also allowed the project team to focus on the core technologies and processes that would make the medical center the first LEED Gold hospital.
