Opening in January 2021, the 752,000-square-foot, eight-story Vassar Brothers Medical Center Inpatient Pavilion (VBMC; Poughkeepsie, N.Y.) will add 264 med/surg beds and 30 critical care beds to the hospital. CallisonRTKL provided architecture and interior design services for the project.
The purpose of the new pavilion is to bring clarity, flexibility, and longevity to the VBMC campus while empowering the surrounding community with a new level of vitality. Like the impacts of the nearby mid-Hudson Bridge and Walkway over the Hudson River on the Hudson Valley, the pavilion provides a revitalized and sustainable medical center that will become a destination for world-class care, the flagship for Nuvance Health, and a long-lasting landmark for the Hudson Valley region.
Each 350-square-foot patient room features a soft color palette and includes a pullout sofa, WiFi access, and USB ports to charge portable devices. The artwork depicts nature scenes, while larger windows bring in ample light and offer views of the Hudson River on one side and the Poughkeepsie cityscape on the other. Through the philosophy of evidence-based design, the CallisonRTKL team studied the social, economic, and environmental factors impacting the surrounding area to design a long-lasting, efficient facility that will be able to serve the community for years to come, and that would be able to address both current and future needs effectively. To accurately understand the facility’s current state and assess the work to be done, the design team held user group meetings to immerse themselves in VBMC’s culture, workflow, and processes. During the subsequent planning process, the healthcare flows were examined as a checklist to ensure an efficient, human-centered experience for all users. To establish the ideal future state, the team utilized benchmarks, streamlined workflows, and removed wasteful processes to create a more effective and efficient patient care environment. The resulting spaces throughout are flexible and adaptive, providing an opportunity for long-term, transformational change.
The new pavilion expanded the existing campus south of the existing hospital to create a new entrance for inpatient flow and stand as a natural wayfinding destination for the campus. The elongated shape of the site and the extensive topographical shifts from one end to the other created both opportunities and challenges for the design. Situated close to Route 9 and overlooking the Hudson River, the building formation stretches the length of the site, curving gently to emulate the flow of the river. Taking advantage of the site slope, the loading dock, central energy plant, and parking garages are tucked neatly to create a separation of onstage and offstage. An existing street also bifurcates the site, creating a separation between the new emergency department and the main inpatient concourse. The intensive care unit and the interventional suite rest above the entry and provide the natural bridge that unifies the site. Other program features include a new radiology department, conference center, café, and relocated helipad. With a tight site, and much of it being used for the building footprint and circulation, attention was given to elevated terraces, green roofs, and entry garden to create places for patients to connect with nature. The vista views of the Hudson River Valley were balanced with campus views to the east.
Project details:
Facility name: Vassar Brothers Medical Center Inpatient Pavilion
Location: Poughkeepsie, N.Y.
Completion date: January 2021
Owner: Nuvance Health
Total building area: 752,610 sq. ft. (696,440 sq. ft., new construction; 13,800 sq. ft., renovation)
Total construction cost: approximately $580 million
Architecture firm: CallisonRTKL
Interior design: CallisonRTKL
General contractor: WCJV – Walsh Consigli Joint Venture
Engineering: GRAEF (structural), BR+A (MEP engineers), The Chazen Companies (civil engineer)
Builder: WCJV – Walsh Consigli Joint Venture
