The integrated project delivery team PennFIRST, comprising health care design firm HDR, architect Foster + Partners, engineering firm BR+A, and construction managers L.F. Driscoll and Balfour Beatty, among others, recently celebrated the completion of Penn Medicine’s $1.6bn hospital, the Pavilion.
It is the largest capital project in the University of Pennsylvania’s history, the largest hospital project in the Philadelphia region, and one of the largest in the US, Penn Medicine said.
Located on the site previously known as Penn Tower, the 139,000-sq-m, 17-storey inpatient hospital has 504 patient rooms whose layouts can be changed to increase intensive care space.
The design and construction team adopted a modular building approach; the Pavilion is the first project in Philadelphia to construct mechanical racks and 504 bathroom pods off-site. Prefabrication took place at a 5,600-sq-m warehouse two miles from site, said Balfour Beatty US.
• Take a virtual tour of the Pavilion:
In response to the pandemic, the PennFIRST team also delivered 120 patient-ready rooms 15 months ahead of the Pavilion’s planned opening in October 2021. Although it was not put to use, PennFIRST completed this 11,330-sq-m space in 17 days.
The new hospital includes telemedicine facilities for remote monitoring and consultations, and technology that links patients to their friends and families.
“It’s a thrilling time to be part of Penn and our broader Philadelphia community, and we are truly honored to be part of such a dramatic and positive change, as we celebrate the opening of the Pavilion,” said Kevin Mahoney, CEO of the University of Pennsylvania Health System in a recent press release.
“This new building now stands as a testament to Penn’s mission to serving humanity – from West Philadelphia to the East Coast, and beyond. The team who designed, build, and now cares for patients in the Pavilion has shown us what the future of medicine looks like and ensured that Penn will be the epicenter of the very best care for generations to come.”
