Located on the northeast side of the existing hospital, the eight-storey tower is designed to support the delivery of patient- and family-centered care; advanced translational research and education; provide flexibility for growth of the university’s health science campus; and foster greater collaboration.
The 310,500 square feet expansion features a new patient care tower and a replacement facility for Ellis Fischel Cancer Center, the oldest cancer centre west of the Mississippi River.
Designed to provide upscale medical facilities to the patients, the tower includes 90 private rooms with smart-room technology to wirelessly integrate medical devices into the hospital’s electronic medical record keeping and a 7,000 square feet inpatient pharmacy with robotics to automatically dispense medication.
Additionally, it also features six operating rooms, with space to expand to an additional six rooms; 25 pre-procedure rooms and 18 post-procedure recovery rooms; a nearly 1,800 square feet lounge for families of surgery patients.
The tower is also home to the new 100,000 square feet Ellis Fischel Cancer Center, which moved from an outpatient facility nearby. Integrating the cancer centre into the patient tower allows inpatient and outpatient care from a single location and a more efficient use of valuable resources. Spanning two floors, the cancer centre includes two linear accelerators, space for two magnetic resonance imaging rooms, a PET-CT scanner, a CT scanner, and 66 clinic examination rooms.
Taking care of the needs of the patients, the expansion also includes various design elements to facilitate a healing environment. Providing a seamless connection to interior spaces of the tower, it features a 3,150 square feet healing garden, which is designed to optimise sunlight.
The healing garden is designed to receive seasonal sunlight at all times of the day to guide the location of trees, seasonal plants, a water feature and seating areas, as well as a variety of respite areas for patients and spaces for rehabilitation and adaptive living learning.
In addition, the expansion also features three roof gardens, including one that covers linear accelerators used for chemotherapy, provide a duel role of positive distractions, and meeting sustainable objectives.
Complementing the campus, the massing of the building has been designed to provide flexibility and growth at all levels. The predominantly glass patient tower adds a fresh and lighter element to the campus, while matching brick integrates the new and existing facilities. Reinforcing the name and honouring the history of Missouri, the Ellis Fischel Cancer Center in native Missouri stone distinctly identifies the Ellis Fischel Cancer Center.
Supporting patient care and medical education, the design of the tower provides collaborative spaces, improves the quality of care and enhances patient and staff safety. Apart from that the design also incorporates patient and family wayfinding through the reorganisation of the patient intake areas and carefully placed signage.
Aspiring for LEED-Silver certification, the expansion has included various sustainable design elements like the reuse of stonework from a demolished building on campus. Other green elements of the design include installation of more efficient fixtures to reduce water consumption by nearly 61%, use of low VOC-emitting finish materials, use of high-efficiency glass, installation of 10,000 square feet of green roofs as well as a rainscreen exterior wall system.
