Rush University Medical Center | Perkins&Will

This hospital is part of a campus wide transformation project which also includes an orthopedic building and a parking structure and new loading and delivery system. The 800,000 square foot hospital consists of 386 patient beds along with diagnostic and treatment facilities such as surgery, radiology and emergency departments. The hospital is sited adjacent to a freeway feeding downtown Chicago, on the east by Ashland Avenue and on the south by Harrison Street which is the major internal street for the Rush Campus. The organizational concept consists of a rectangular six-story base containing new diagnostic and treatment facilities topped by a five-story curvilinear bed tower. The base connects to existing diagnostic treatment facilities to create a new continuous interventional platform. The geometry of the bed tower maximizes views and natural light for patient rooms while also creating an environment for efficient and safe health care. The massing and architectural expression of the north, south and east respond to the differing surrounding conditions. The north elevation is simple and large in scale responding to the adjacent freeway. The east elevation works in tandem with the orthopedics building to create and reinforce the new entry boulevard from the east. The south elevation weaves the rectilinear and curvilinear geometry of base and bed tower together to scale the building down to relate to the environment of the entry boulevard. The difference in north and south elevation also responds to the internal organizations of the base. The simpler north elevation expresses the back of house staff connection corridors. The more layered and scaled down south façade contains the public elements of the base such as lounges and waiting areas. A 3-story volume between the new and existing hospital provides an entry at grade and at an existing level four bridge to a parking structure. Landscaping is brought into the Lobby through an open-roofed glazed element which is sealed off from the hospital environment to prevent contamination. The Lobby roof is a landscaped courtyard at level four. The project is the largest LEED® Gold-NC certified hospital in the world.