After more than 30 years of sharing space with MultiCare Tacoma General Hospital, Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital is getting a new home. ESa was selected to provide architecture and design services for the new, state-of-the-art facility during the COVID-19 pandemic and has guided the design throughout the life of the project.
The vision of Mary Bridge is to create a world-class children’s hospital which delivers the lowest cost/highest value children’s healthcare in the region. Using Lean design and a research-backed, human-centered approach, we designed a space that supports enhanced care, building efficiency and staff effectiveness. With this approach, our goal was to eliminate waste and maximize cross-functional spaces. This reduces construction cost and long-term operational costs, maximizing the value proposition of the hospital while providing an amazing healthcare experience for all.
As the only Level II pediatric trauma center in Washington State, our team concentrated on designing a pediatric-focused medical campus that not only provides better access to care for patients, but also creates opportunities for future growth. The inpatient tower will be accompanied by an ambulatory building and feature components such as private pediatric medical/surgical and intensive care patient rooms; emergency department and behavioral health crisis rooms; operating/endoscopy rooms; hybrid catheterization, electrophysiology and radiology suite; pediatric diagnostic imaging center; infusion and hematology/oncology clinic; cardiology services; helipad; pharmacy and shell space for future expansion. The campus will also have 800 staff and visitor parking spaces. The 253,000 sf hospital is sited to take advantage of spectacular scenic views to Mt. Rainier, Commencement Bay and the Cascade Range while also maximizing precious Pacific Northwest daylight hours into patient rooms, public and staff spaces.
Designed during the COVID-19 pandemic, our team completed all facets of the project from interviews through schematic design, design development, construction documents, pull planning, team scheduling and design coordination in an entirely virtual format. During this, we leveraged virtual platforms and software to accomplish all activities within an integrated project delivery (IPD) team structure. Using the IPD structure, our team is committed to delivering this project at or below the target cost.
