The Ellis Hospital Intensive Care Unit (ICU) specializes in the care and treatment of patients with major medical, cardiac or surgical illnesses or injuries. The ICU provides an expert level of specialized and comprehensive care.
The unit was designed as an addition to the hospital campus, and initially provided shell space in the ground level for a future clinical lab and morgue (which we subsequently designed, the project is now complete), as well as two floors of ICU, with infrastructure capacity for future vertical expansion.
The exterior rainscreen was designed specifically for this project, complementing the campus brick while adding character and identity to the building. A new courtyard was created between this new wing and the hospital, and a major donor wall was created in one of the primary corridors linking the unit and the adjacent building.
On each floor the 18 single-bed rooms are designed to anticipate and adapt to new equipment and procedural development. Nursing stations have been decentralized to maintain proximity of care givers to their patients.
At the heart of the CCU is the Support Core, this space was designed with convenient centralized access to storage, medications, nourishment and semiprivate medical team conferencing.
Visitors, patients and staff have been continually pleased with the unit, remarking on its attractiveness and calmness. Special attention was given to finishes, art and aesthetics, creating a clinical space that is pleasant, especially considering its program type, but also durable, and highly functional.
