NORTHEAST | GENERAL CONTRACTING
The Good Shepherd Households is a residentcentered care model that flies in the face of the traditional nursing home set-up.
Building A Home {BUILDING TEAM} FIRE PROTECTION Breth-Zenzen Fire Protection CARPENTRY LABOR Mike Brenny Construction PAINTING Virnig Painting CABINETRY/SHELVING Ron's Cabinets
34 September October 2012
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reating a home involves more than hanging drywall and picture frames. More than simply moving furniture or painting walls. Home conjures a special feeling. When it’s real – you know it. With its recent construction of Good Shepherd Households in Sauk Rapids, Minn., Miller Architects & Builders has turned the institutional nursing home model on its head and created a home. Miller Architects & Builders is a Minnesotabased fifth-generation architectural and general contracting firm that provides preconstruction planning and consulting, value engineering and construction management services. Its goal is to become a single source for project delivery for their clients, with an emphasis on communication between owner, contractor and designer that results in smooth project flow, better understanding and fewer surprises. Residents of Good Shepherd live in what are known as “households.” The household is a
resident-centered care model that does away with the traditional nursing home set-up of double rooms, large, sterile dining rooms and activity spaces, and rigid scheduling and staffing needs. To that end, the old notion of how a skilled care facility looks and feels had to be erased. Each of the eight households is complete with its own dining room, kitchen, living room, TV den and whirlpool-equipped spa. Sizes of the households range from 23 residents at the largest, to 16 at the smallest — the difference being how the households could be configured within the existing structure. From 2009 to 2011 construction was continuous. The scope of work involved the construction of two new, two-story building additions comprised of steel studs and light-gauge pitched roof framing, and the extensive remodel of the existing facility to bring all of the spaces to the same level of fit and finish. “Everything was built around ADA and nursing