Showcase 9 - Innovative Cancer Institute - Center for Innovative Medicine

– E T U IT ICINE T E9 S S A N I C R D E E C S H OW M N IAMI E A M V H C I T T N IN SOU E A V V I T O A N INNOTVER FOR IONR FUTURE DESIG CEN HE TONE F GR

RTN N D PA ITH A M S , M E SHA

N SET TI

GT

ERS

SETTING THE TONE

Innovative Cancer Institute – Center for Innovative Medicine

FOR

LOCATION

FUTURE

DESIGN IN

SOUTH MIAMI

South Miami, Florida C L IENT

Innovative Cancer Institute Dr. Beatriz E. Amendola

SERVIC ES

Architecture Environmental Graphics and Wayfinding Interior Design

L

ocated in South Miami, Innovative Cancer Institute (ICI) provides cutting-edge treatment in radiation oncology to patients from the South Florida region and across the globe. In need of a larger facility to accommodate growing demand and incorporate the latest technologies, ICI commissioned GS&P to design a new cancer treatment facility that would create a unique identity in the community. The resulting 61,500-squarefoot, four-story Center for Innovative Medicine offers patients a positive, healing environment, along with state-of-the-art cancer care. Principal-in-charge Luis Cano describes some of the key project challenges:

IN NOVATIVE CANCE R I N STITU TE – C ENTE R FO R I N NOVATIVE ME D I C I N E

87

The design team’s strategy was to maximize the site and incorporate the parking into the building.

“The site itself was one of our biggest hurdles,” explains Cano. “The property was selected and purchased before GS&P became involved and was way too tight a space for what the client needed. We not only had to design to the setback and height limits, but the City of South Miami required a set number of parking spaces per square foot. Given these site limitations, there was no room whatsoever on the ground level to provide the 80 parking spaces that codes required.

“THE SITE ITSELF WAS ONE OF OUR BIGGEST HURDLES... THERE WAS NO ROOM WHATSOEVER ON THE GROUND LEVEL TO PROVIDE THE 80 PARKING SPACES THAT CODES REQUIRED.” LUIS CANO, SENIOR HEALTHCARE PRINCIPAL

88

SHOWCASE 9

“Our design solution was to incorporate an access ramp garage—it just appears as a sleek-looking metal skin. on the first floor where it will not be a prominent feature But when you’re inside, that skin almost disappears of the building, and then place parking on the second, and doesn’t impede your view. Additionally, the panels third and fourth floors. This presented provide natural ventilation, allowing us with the challenge of making the air to flow from one end of the THE PERFORATED building look like a 21st-century, highbuilding to the other. At night, you ALUMINUM SCREEN can tell those aren’t walls, and that tech radiation facility that reflects the quality of care that patients will receive, something unusual is happening SYSTEM CREATES AN OPEN as opposed to a parking garage.” on the inside because you can see To accomplish this, the design team pinpoints of light emanating from SPACE IN WHAT LOOKS selected a sleek, perforated alumithe garage.”

LIKE A SOLID BUILDING, Distinguished by its smooth-texnum skin to cover the parking garage, ture white stucco finish, along with enhancing the aesthetic quality of the AND THE PANELS PROVIDE building’s facade. aluminum cladding, translucent NATURAL VENTILATION. “Using the perforated aluminum glazing and brushed-metal signage, screen system to wrap the building GS&P’s exterior design gives promdid a couple of key things,” says Cano. “Firstly, it inence to the occupied spaces and architecture of the created an open space in what looks like a solid building, while placing the garage portion of the structure building. During the day, you can’t tell it’s a parking in the background.

THE SITE WAS FAIRLY SMALL AT

21,810 square feet

IN NOVATIVE CANCE R I N STITU TE – C ENTE R FO R I N NOVATIVE ME D I C I N E

89

15-foot REQUIRED SETBACKS

MAXIMUM ALLOWABLE

HEIGHT OF

50 feet

THE CLIENT’S INTENT WAS TO move their existing practice to the new site, and have more usable square footage to function in while also accommodating tenant spaces that could generate revenue.

90

SHOWCASE 9

IN NOVATIVE CANCE R I N STITU TE – C ENTE R FO R I N NOVATIVE ME D I C I N E

91

SAVING SPACE TO ACCOMMODATE TECHNOLOGY VeriShield modules, the 2-foot walls would have been around 4 feet Another way in which the design in width, and the 4-foot walls would have measured approximately 6 team was able to maximize space to 7 feet in thickness. That would have taken up a lot more footprint was by working with Veritas Medical and meant a lot less usable area in the space considering how tight Solutions to plan for the design is based on the radiation-shielded treatsmall site. Incorporating ment vaults constructed the VeriShield blocks into THERE ARE TWO MAIN WAYS with VeriShield™ modular the design allowed the vault blocks—a system of dryto fit within a single floor OF DESIGNING A RADIATION stacked, ultra-high-density because of the density of shielding modules, and a those blocks.”

CANCER TREATMENT CENTER OR space-saving alternative Housed within the A LINEAR ACCELERATOR VAULT. to solid concrete shieldfacility’s radiation-shielded ing materials.

YOU EITHER USE SOLID CONCRETE treatment vaults are some of “There are two main the world’s most advanced OR A PRODUCT LIKE VERISHIELD, ways of designing a radiaradiotherapy and radiosurtion cancer treatment center gery technologies, including WHICH DRAMATICALLY REDUCES or a linear accelerator vault,” the Varian EDGE™ system says Cano. “You either use that targets tumors with WALL AND CEILING THICKNESSES solid concrete or a prodpinpoint accuracy, precision COMPARED TO CONCRETE. uct like VeriShield, which and speed while protecting dramatically reduces wall surrounding, healthy tissue. and ceiling thicknesses “Innovative Cancer compared to concrete.

Institute is leading the way “Most of the walls in the facility’s as one of the first freestanding cancer treatment centers in the U.S. to offer this first-of-its-kind technology,” notes Cano. treatment vaults are 2 feet wide, and then the primary walls are Other front-line technologies include brachytherapy, conformal approximately 4 feet wide. If we had therapy, IMRT, IGRT, a brand-new 64-slice Siemens CT scanner, incorporated the same technology and a Varian Trilogy® linear accelerator that provides patients with using solid concrete instead of the a wide range of cancer treatments.

“

”

View of the Varian EDGE™ system and vault; Varian EDGE is a first-of-its-kind technology that targets tumors with pinpoint accuracy, precision and speed.

VeriShield™ is a system of dry-stacked, ultrahigh density shielding modules. It dramatically reduces wall and ceiling thicknesses when compared to concrete, which allowed the vault to fit within a single floor.

CREATING A COHESIVE DESIGN

“WE WERE ABLE TO USE SOME OF THE SAME MATERIALS ON THE INSIDE AS WE DID ON THE OUTSIDE. FOR EXAMPLE, THE SOLID METAL PANELS THAT WERE USED ON THE 93

EXTERIOR WERE ALSO USED ON A

IN NOVATIVE CANCE R I N STITU TE – C ENTE R FO R I N NOVATIVE ME D I C I N E

CURVED WALL ON THE INTERIOR.” SHAUNA CARPENTER, SENIOR INTERIOR DESIGNER

EXTERIOR TO INTERIOR In addition to complementing the growing South Miami locale through a variety of progressive exterior features, the design team sought to bring the architectural tone of the facade into the facility’s interiors.

“We desired a cohesive building, with the interior following the exterior, which is high-tech and streamlined,” explains senior interior designer Shauna Carpenter. “We were able to use some of the same materials on the inside as we did on the outside. For example, the solid metal panels that were used on the exterior were also used on a curved wall on the interior.

So, when you’re on the inside, it feels like you’re in the same building you saw on the outside. Everything is white, glass, clean and contemporary, as opposed to looking very institutional and plain.”

Along with a unified connection to the exterior, creating the best possible patient experience was a key driver in the interior design. Interior features such as art collections and views to lush gardens generate interest and help ease anxiety for patients. Neutral, contemporary offices and clinical areas also contribute to a calming aesthetic.

“We wanted to create an environment where the patient feels at ease across the board,” says Carpenter.

“That’s why we incorporated the landscaping the way we did, and laid out the interior with almost all patient care, such as waiting and sub-waiting areas, with views to daylight.”

“We also designed the exam rooms so equipment like stethoscopes, blood pressure cuffs and other machines are concealed inside a panel behind a beautiful wooden headwall. So the patient never has to see that equipment, which can be very overwhelming. They only see a clutter-free space, which helps to alleviate stress,” adds Cano.

“

WE WANTED TO CREATE AN ENVIRONMENT WHERE THE PATIENT FEELS AT EASE ACROSS THE BOARD.

”

IN NOVATIVE CANCE R I N STITU TE – C ENTE R FO R I N NOVATIVE ME D I C I N E

From top to bottom: Executive office and balcony; break room

95

AN INSPIRED, MODERN FACILITY

Successfully accommodating all of the client’s needs along with the requisite parking on the small site, GS&P’s eye-catching design sets the tone for future design in South Miami by enhancing the architectural character of this emerging Miami-Dade County neighborhood. Radiation oncologist and ICI founder Dr. Beatriz E. Amendola speaks to the project’s success: “The Innovative Cancer Institute is the work of a collaborative team with an unwavering focus on providing patients with a positive, healing environment and the very latest in cancer treatment. GS&P has created an inspired, modern facility that helps us embrace the most advanced, sophisticated technology. We are proud to serve the South Florida community, as well as national and international patients. Our team is dedicated to changing lives one at a time with exceptional, personalized care.”

“We got lucky,” concludes Cano. “We had a client who gave us the opportunity to really make a difference. That is very unique, and we were very fortunate.”

“THE INNOVATIVE CANCER INSTITUTE

96

IS THE WORK OF A COLLABORATIVE PROVIDING PATIENTS WITH A POSITIVE, HEALING ENVIRONMENT AND THE VERY

SHOWCASE 9

TEAM WITH AN UNWAVERING FOCUS ON

LATEST IN CANCER TREATMENT.” DR. BEATRIZ E. AMENDOLA

TE A M

PIC Luis J. Cano, aia, leed ap, edac, ncarb PM Kristin S. Herman-Druck, aia, ncarb ID Shauna L. Carpenter, ncidq, rid, leed ap, iida

PC Rebekah Fried

James R. Kolb, aia, leed ap Eddie Perez Mike Summers

.GRE S WWW

HA M S

MI

M/S TH . C O

H OWC

AS E