Issue link: http://digital.canadawide.com/i/178290
he new Centennial Patient Care Tower and East Pandosy Clinical Services Building has changed the face of the century-old Kelowna General Hospital considerably – and for the better. With state-of-the-art facilities and ample room for future expansion, the LEED Gold project will offer Okanagan patients enhanced health care for many years to come. So where does one begin to revitalize medical care (and lay the groundwork for the Okanagan's upcoming cardiac centre)? You start at the front door. "The irst thing we did was bring the old hospital entrance right up to the street," says project director Bruce Knapp of Stantec Architects. "Once we aligned all the functional areas and linked them with the existing building, everything fell into place, including the opportunity to provide a brand new emergency department," The new 360,000-square-foot Centennial Tower stands six storeys tall, allowing ample space for a 30,000-square-foot emergency department (quadruple the size of the hospital's previous ER, with a four bay ambulance facility). Moving the entrance also makes the hospital more accessible for drop offs and public transit; the former entry driveway, says Knapp, is to be converted into a landscaped courtyard, "the heart of the new campus." Higher up in the Centennial Tower, consolidated outpatient services, increased surgical capacity and modern operating rooms have been installed, along with specialty clinical areas, respiratory and bronchoscopy services, the renal dialysis department and administrative space, as well as inpatient medical/surgical beds and a 55-bed acute inpatient psychiatry department – and a vast rooftop helipad. Space on the top two levels remains vacant in anticipation of future development, and with an evergrowing traf ic low, the added parking structure adds more breathing room. Hop across the elevated 140-footlong, free-span enclosed walkway to the East Pandosy Clinical Services Building. At 84,470 square feet and three storeys, it plays host to the hospital's laboratory facilities, autopsy areas, examination rooms and more administrative space. "The Link Bridge connecting the buildings is the irst one in the Okanagan," explains Jennifer Holzer of Infusion Health. A pneumatic tube system connects both buildings, too, making for ef icient transportation of lab samples. As Interior Health plans for construction of the upcoming Interior Heart and Surgical Centre, the Clinical Services Building acts as a temporary home for critical support services near the existing hospital. "The design was envisioned as a logical extension of the existing Kelowna General Hospital campus," says Knapp. "The objective was to break down the massing of the Centennial Building by developing a horizontally banded threestorey base of glass and metal, with a white tower above in keeping with the adjacent hospital campus." Pops of desert-inspired terracotta colour add interest throughout. T Centennial Patient Care Tower and East Pandosy Clinical Services Building – Kelowna General Hospital PHOTOS: KURTIS STEWART by Stacey McLachlan Kelowna's natural beauty also in luenced the grand photographic murals at key way- inding points and department entrances. Welcoming canopies top clear separate entrances for Emergency and ambulatory care patients. "Stantec is renowned for its work on airports and retail," notes Knapp. "We try wherever we can to cross-pollinate our projects with great ideas that make buildings easy to understand and engaging to be in." Large windows lood both buildings with natural light and sweeping views of Okanagan Lake. Centennial Patient Care Tower and East Pandosy Clinical Services Building – Kelowna General Hospital p.98-101Kelowna General.indd 99 With such dedication to the sustainability of these both the Centennial Tower and the Clinical Services Building, KGH has become one of the few hospitals in North America to achieve LEED Gold certi ication. Knapp points to the structures' high performance building envelopes, exhaust air heat recovery, high ef iciency boilers, stormwater management, water use reduction and extensive use of recycled content as keys to the project's success. Durable (and earthquake-resistant) concrete was used throughout, as well as wood as part of B.C.'s Wood First Initiative, which encourages use of the construction material for its low-cost, climate-friendly characteristics. KGH certainly complied, utilizing wood as an exterior inish, as well as for exterior wall studs and sheathing, millwork, doors and other interior inishes. "All products were chosen to meet APRIL 2012 /99 3/26/12 3:09:47 PM