Showcase: DesignGroup: Richard M. Ross Heart Hospital

Located at The Ohio State University Medical Center in Columbus, Ohio, the 90-bed, 225,000 square foot Richard M. Ross Heart Hospital is one of a few dedicated academic heart hospitals nationwide. Its care space provides a continuum of cardio thoracic testing and care, from simple EKGs to heart-lung transplants, including the only adult heart transplant program in central Ohio. Contiguous with comprehensive research and patient care facilities at the Medical Center, the Davis Heart and Lung Research Institute and the College of Allied Medicine, this hospital allows staff to move new discoveries from research areas to the patient’s bedside, giving patients access to the most advanced science and treatment methods available.

The Ross Heart Hospital is designed around the needs of patients and their families. This is evident the moment they enter the four-story hospital atrium, which serves as an essential wayfinding vehicle with its natural light and crossroads position. Visitors are welcomed by greeters and can easily locate registration areas, elevators, and family waiting areas located on each floor, which overlook the atrium and new arrival plaza. Contributing to its warm character, the atrium finishes include maple paneling, terrazzo, carpeting, and fabric-covered acoustical panels. Overhead, suspended lighting supported on cables act as luminous “mobiles,” animating the space. The atrium’s large expanse of natural light helps reinforce feelings of openness (non-confining) and reduce stress. The atrium embraces the four-story curve of the patient tower, which visually allows the high-tech exterior skin to continue on the inside. The interior skin is actually a high-end paint finish to match the exterior metal panel.

The curve of the patient tower is replicated multiple times throughout the facility at varying scales. The four-story curve experienced in the atrium is felt more intimately on the patient floors themselves. This gentle, sweeping curve eliminates the appearance of the long monotonous corridor and provides the nurse desks with direct views into all 30 patient rooms within two nursing units (two units of 15 per floor). The curvilinear shape is used as a soffit detail in the patient rooms where it adds an embracing quality to a more clinical space. It also helps delineate the family space from the patient and staff areas. Nurse desks, floor patterns, and the furniture all contain elements reflecting this “curve” theme. The board room table also is curved. As an elongated “U,” it is reminiscent of Ohio State’s famous (horseshoe-shaped) stadium. The curve theme helps to unify several dissimilar elements and softens the hard edges of the hospital’s clinical nature.

The universal patient rooms, arranged in six 15-bed patient care units, provide exceptional flexibility for both the patients and the staff. The rooms are designed to provide a family area, patient area, and staff work area. The rooms are equipped with the ability to change the intensity of care according to the patient’s needs thus eliminating the patient having to move from room to room as their acuity level changes. Staff can adjust the room through easily slid wood panels that cover medical gases and equipment. With this room design, the nursing staff move as acuity changes.

 DesignGroup
515 East Main St.
Columbus, Ohio 43215
www.dgcolumbus.com

Hammel, Green & Abramson Inc.
701 Washington Avenue North
Minneapolis, MN  55401-1180
www.hga.com

Richard M. Ross Heart Hospital
Ohio State University Medical Center
Columbus, Ohio

Design Team

Project Principals - Bob Vennemeyer (DesignGroup), Bob Walker (Hammel, Green and Abramson)
Project Managers - John Schilling (DesignGroup), Ron Meese (Hammel, Green and Abramson)
Project Designers - Frank Nemeth (Hammel, Green and Abramson), Elliott Bonnie (DesignGroup)
Interior Designers - Christine Guzzo Vickery, Sr. Designer (Hammel, Green and Abramson), Eric Lipschutz (DesignGroup)
Project Architect - Tom Gerken (DesignGroup)
Project Assistant - Jason Cottrell (DesignGroup)
Project Medical Planners - Gary Nyberg (Hammel, Green and Abramson), Scott Doellinger (DesignGroup)
Construction Administration - Marvin Dollery (DesignGroup)

Design Team Consultants
MEP – Peter Korda (Korda/Nemeth Engineering, Inc.)
Cardiac Consultant – Jackie Johnson (Corazon Consulting)
Landscape Design Consultant – Brian Kinzelman (Kinzelman / Kline, Inc.)

Construction Manager
Greg Honzo (Gilbane)

Photography
Brad Feinknopf (Feinknopf Photography Inc

Second Floor Plan

Universal Patient Room in High Acuity Mode

Day Clinic Waiting Area off of Main Atrium

Family Waiting Area overlooking the Atrium

Typical Nurse Desk Work Area

Typical Nurse Desk on Universal Patient Room Floor