In 2004, Rush University Medical Center revealed plans to embark on the most comprehensive construction and facilities improvement project in its nearly 175-year history. Dubbed the Campus Transformation Project, the sweeping plan called for investment in new technologies and facility design that would modernize operations for the 21st century and reorient the campus around the comfort of patients and their families.

Rush enlisted us to plan and design the transformation, which included a new 840,000 square foot state-of-the-art hospital building, a new medical office building (the largest orthopedics care facility of its kind in the Midwest), and a centralized power plant/parking garage. The existing hospital building, connected to the new hospital tower with a 10,000 square foot entry pavilion, is currently undergoing renovation.

To address the unique needs of this large undertaking, we established a multidisciplinary office along with the program manager and key subconsultants on the project site. Colocating with the client and full project team allowed design staff to experience firsthand the daily challenges taking place inside an urban hospital, from working through "code-reds" to riding the elevators with patients on gurneys. It also made the client a close partner in the design process, with architects and designers having daily face-to-face access to decision makers or users for extra review and insight.

With smart, environmentally friendly use of resources, strategic reorganization of logistics, and architecture that optimizes the experience of those who inhabit and use it every day, the new Rush University Medical Center campus has transformed into a true asset to the west side of Chicago, and an exciting new setting for the delivery of 21st century healthcare.