Grand Itasca Clinic & Hospital, Grand Rapids, Minn., a replacement hospital, was built, in part, thanks to an "innovation grant" from a local foundation.
Grand Itasca Clinic & Hospital, Grand Rapids, Minn.
Type of facility: Replacement hospital
Project architect: Kahler Slater
Construction manager: Kraus-Andersen Construction Co.
Completed: December 2005
Size: 185,500 square feet
Cost: $40 million
Cost per square foot: $216
Officials needed to replace the original hospital, built in 1917, but didn't have the funding. The decision was made to pursue an “innovation grant” from the Blandin Foundation, a local philanthropy established by paper magnate Charles K. Blandin.
The facility's innovative integration of a 64-bed hospital with outpatient clinic services set on a 70-acre wooded property near the Mississippi River headwaters impressed the foundation so much that they awarded Grand Itasca an unprecedented gift of $20 million in 2003.
“Grand Itasca Clinic & Hospital didn't have the fiscal capability to do the project without the grant,” says Jim Rasche, a “3EO” (a title denoting shared responsibility between three chief executives) of Kahler Slater in Milwaukee, adding that the grant helped secure a $42.1 million loan through the Federal Housing Administration's Section 242 Hospital Mortgage Insurance Program.
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Construction began on the $40 million, 185,500-square-foot facility in October 2003 and was completed in December 2005.
Rasche says the hospital and a large independent physician group came together as a single integrated-delivery system with shared equipment and procedure spaces, and “created a new model of care around what is essentially an ambulatory-care model with beds.”
The intent was to create a “healing destination” with extensive use of natural light, tree-filled views, and a design that facilitated patient flow and staff interaction. Critical-care areas, for example, are located next to each other to permit emergency and intensive-care nurses to “come together on an as-needed basis,” Rasche says. In so doing, he explains that there was a higher utilization of space, and major capital equipment and less infrastructure were needed.
Also, the facility is located between a stand of old-growth white pines and a century-old oak, allowing a brand-new building to appear like it's always belonged exactly where it is. On the east side is the main entrance near the pines, while the indoor and outdoor dining areas are centered by the giant oak on the west.
Cedar wood was used in the entrances and Scandinavian design elements were used throughout to reflect the area's cultural heritage, which Rasche says was done to further reflect the uniqueness of the facility's location.
“It's a hospital that's meant to fit and be experienced on this site only,” Rasche says. “It wouldn't make sense anywhere else.”
The project elicited much praise from the judges.
“That was the one I thought was superior,” says project architect Paul Reich with Chicago-based Roula Associates Architects. “There was a sense of intimacy to it and serenity. It took full advantage of the site.”
Other judges agreed.
“Everyone felt that it fit the setting,” says Sally Gammon, president and CEO of Allentown, Pa.-based Good Shepherd Rehabilitation Network.
“That project had real harmony with nature and radiated peace and caring,” says Susan Croushore, president and CEO of Christ Hospital in Cincinnati. “It made me want to work there.”
Croushore adds that she likes the focus on ergonomics aimed at reducing distances that staff needs to walk and providing easy access to supplies near patients.
“A lot of innovation in hospital design is occurring at the community-hospital level, and—even with a modest budget—you can do exceptional design,” Rasche says. “As we were putting the project together and working with this visionary client, we knew that it would be a special project and a special opportunity, and its story would be worth telling.”
The design award judges apparently agreed.
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