Projects - Texas Children's Hospital West Tower Expansion
Houston, Texas
This project was a sixteen-story Patient Tower addition to the original five-story building designed by BDMI ten years after initial occupancy.
Planning for the initial construction facilitated the vertical expansion, providing a mechanical floor that acted as a buffer to separate the new and existing construction. The success of initial planning was manifested by not requiring relocations or similar disruptions during construction.
Infection control issues were addressed in the initial stages of design and throughout the construction, supported by continuous inspections of materials and workmanship to assure that construction debris and similar contaminants were not concealed in the extensive air distribution system. The challenge for the air systems designers was the acuity and vulnerability to infection of the young patients. Design determinants for the Neonatology Suite, Bone Marrow Transplant Unit, Cardiac Care Canter, Pediatric Intensive Care Unit, and similar services, demanded an environment free of airborne contaminants and bio-hazards. Accordingly, air handling units with HEPA filters were provided for all levels of the Hospital. Two air handling units were connected to each main vertical supply riser in the Patient Tower to allow one unit to be turned off for routine maintenance without compromising essential pressure relationship and air quality.
The expansion greatly enhanced the medical care offered to the children locally, statewide and internationally.