The University of Chicago Medical Center, New Hospital Pavilion
Chicago, Ill.

The first steel column has arrived for the 1.2-million-SF, 12-story University of Chicago Medical Center’s New Hospital Pavilion, for which we are providing structural engineering services for Rafael Viñoly Architects. The new pavilion will increase the hospital’s current clinical capacity by more than one-third. The structural system consists of concrete shearwalls, with concrete and composite steel deck, and steel beams and columns. The pavilion will be devoted to complex specialty care, with a focus on cancer and advanced surgical programs. Challenges include placing a high-dose radiation operating room with two-foot-thick walls, floor, and ceiling on the sixth floor of the steel building, and stiffening certain areas to meet vibration criteria for MRI and CT equipment. The project will seek LEED certification. We are also providing connection design and selected construction engineering services for the contractor.