Connecticut Children’s | Clinical Tower | Hartford, CT

As a child or young adult enters the health system’s main campus they will be transported through mystical habitats, which are woven throughout the design from the lobby to the patient floors in the design of the public areas, family spaces, and wayfinding. An immersive experience is curated from the moment you step through the door creating interactive and sensory experiences throughout. The space features:

• Two floors, totaling 50 private neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) rooms; 12 connecting rooms for twins or multiples allowing families to move seamlessly between rooms; airborne infection isolation rooms (AII); a centralized milk lab; family amenity areas with an outdoor terrace
• Acuity adaptable patient care unit with 14 private rooms that can be converted into pediatric intensive care units (PICU) as needed
• Advanced cellular gene therapy (ACGT) unit with 6 private rooms designed for a protective isolation of hematology and oncology patients; cell processing lab to support human cell tissue products (operated by licensed professionals and registered with the FDA)
• Nurse stations designed for multidisciplinary, collaborative work
• Commercial kitchen for catering services, dining area and gift shop for patients, family and staff
• Fetal care center designed to meet the needs of high-risk births; obstetrical unit with six ix labor, delivery, recovery and postpartum rooms; two dedicated operating rooms
• Outpatient services, clinical support and a pharmacy including sterile (ISO-Class 7) and non- sterile compounding rooms (USP 797 and 800)
• A stand-alone MEP infrastructure, that provides redundancy for the existing hospital

To alleviate the program constraints of the hospital it is of critical importance to right size each department’s space while working within the client’s budget and expediting the project schedule. To accomplish these goals, the Owner, designer and DPR had to work collaboratively, establish and IPD approach, and implement lean construction principles through:

• Big room co-located teams who are eliminating silos, promoting collaboration, and looking at the big picture
• Target value delivery creating suite teams responsible for optimizing the design and programming, working to the budget, and reviewing constructability to remove redundancies with input from critical stakeholders throughout the project including select design-assist trade partners
• Choosing By Advantage methodologies developing A3s to explore prefabrication options and make informed decisions on the best value solutions
• Last Planner System implementation utilizing pull planning to optimize design and construction sequencing, creating predictable workflow and realistic timelines people are committed to achieving
• Mock-ups built by our self-perform construction teams for the doctors, nurses and support staff to provide feedback to the team on the design and layout of different rooms to ensure the comfort and functionality of the final space eliminating rework in the field
• Prefabrication solutions explored to create the best value solutions, expediting construction of select scopes in tandem with onsite activities promoting quality and safety

“Today’s groundbreaking of our new clinical tower is not just a brick-and-mortar investment in Hartford and Connecticut, it’s a reflection of our commitment to children and part of a series of investments that will benefit patient families and the broader community,” said Jim Shmerling, DHA, FACHE president and chief executive officer, Connecticut Children’s.

The health system’s communications and project teams strategically planned the groundbreaking on Superhero Day, an event held annually at the health system and celebrating its 10th anniversary. Connecticut Children’s, DPR, Cannon Design and our trade partners all dressed as superheroes to celebrate, taking time a break from fighting crimes to honor the children and family’s fighting for their lives.

“I can’t think of a better way to officially kick off the start of this project than with all of our superheroes here,” said Bob Duncan, executive vice president and chief operating officer of Connecticut Children’s. “It certainly takes superhero strength and vision to build the future of children’s health.”