North Austin Medical Center Expansion and Renovation
North Austin Medical Center Expansion and Renovation | Austin, Texas
This project was a new 175,000-sq.-ft., three-level patient tower, along with 23,000-sq.-ft. in renovations to the existing hospital. The project included vertical and horizontal expansion to the women's center, with surgery center and medical offices on the ground floor.
Partners
Coordinating And
Executing
A critical challenge was safely removing exterior precast panels to expose the building substructure. Field measurements for steel tie-in points, exact dimensions of concrete edges, and structural openings all had to be verified. However, removing the panels left the building's exterior skin exposed to weather and environmental breaches to infectious disease controls.
DPR used creative methods to handle this, coming up with new ways to install temporary weather protection and monitor installations. Coordination with the facility and end user for shut downs of the space was continuous and work was completed with no incidents to patients, staff, or the facility.
Going
Virtual
The team's Virtual Design & Construction (VDC) program included a model of the concrete structure using Building Information Modeling (BIM) tools. Because the details could be accurately modeled electronically, potential clashes were resolved before workers broke ground. DPR was also able to give subcontractors a 3D view of what the underground work looked like, resulting in a higher level of quality. BIM was also used for quantity take-off and self-perform work detailing.
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