The new award-winning Florida Hospital for Women, Orlando Campus will eventually have 336 licensed beds in the patient bed tower and represents the pinnacle of women’s healthcare while overlooking calming and lushly landscaped gardens and grounds while serving women’s health needs through all stages of their lives.
The new bed tower is flowing, elegant, and playful, seemingly rising from an adjacent pool of water at the center of the health village campus—in welcome contrast to angular and conventional construction of the main hospital tower. For those seeking healing and respite, it will be distinguished as a beacon of hope, light, and wellness.
Goals
Growing research demonstrates that patients recover faster and better from illness or surgery in settings that offer abundant daylight and views to the outdoors. Architectural design that provides these features is proven to correlate with reduced medication intake and shorter recovery periods, thereby improving patient outcomes and quickening room turnaround times.
The design team, including HKS Architects and interior design firm Stantec, took this knowledge into consideration when selecting window treatments for the patient rooms and common areas.
Solutions
MechoSystems provided motorized DoubleShades® for patient rooms, along with ThermoVeil® shadecloth for advanced solar heat control and Classic Blackout shadecloth for improved rest, privacy, and room-darkening at any time of day. The system can be easily operated by patients with a pillow switch, similar to adjusting the overhead light or TV volume, or calling for assistance. Wall controls in the family zone allow visitors and staff the ability to adjust the motorized shades. MechoSystems also has the capability for providing control of motorized shades via an automated shading control system that allows for staff override at the nurse’s stations or connection to building automation systems. Automation ensures effective daylighting integration, management of glare, and control of solar radiation via predictive modeling and real-time sky monitoring.
Common areas of the Florida Hospital for Women at Orlando Campus use manual solar shades to provide ample natural light while minimizing heat gain, thereby ensuring visitor comfort while reducing energy costs in the waiting areas/lounges.
Results
For this project, Window Interiors, a MechoSystems dealer and associate, won Florida’s regional Associated Builders and Contractors Eagle Award in 2016, also a testament to the work of the architects, designers, installers, and MechoSystems in the successful window treatments used at the Florida Hospital for Women at Orlando Campus.
MechoSystems’ 10-year non-depreciating warranty—along with the antimicrobial shadecloth’s 20-year lifespan—will ensure the Florida Hospital for Women in Orlando will serve patients, promote healing solutions, and gain energy savings far into the future.
For more information, visit MechoShade.com/healthcare or email marketingLIC.
Related Stories
Sports and Recreational Facilities | Mar 14, 2024
First-of-its-kind sports and rehabilitation clinic combines training gym and healing spa
Parker Performance Institute in Frisco, Texas, is billed as a first-of-its-kind sports and rehabilitation clinic where students, specialized clinicians, and chiropractic professionals apply neuroscience to physical rehabilitation.
Healthcare Facilities | Mar 7, 2024
A healthcare facility in New Jersey will be located at a transit station
The project is part of a larger objective to make transportation hubs more multipurpose.
University Buildings | Feb 21, 2024
University design to help meet the demand for health professionals
Virginia Commonwealth University is a Page client, and the Dean of the College of Health Professions took time to talk about a pressing healthcare industry need that schools—and architects—can help address.
Hospital Design Trends | Feb 14, 2024
Plans for a massive research hospital in Dallas anticipates need for child healthcare
Children’s Health and the UT Southwestern Medical Center have unveiled their plans for a new $5 billion pediatric health campus and research hospital on more than 33 acres within Dallas’ Southwestern Medical District.
Healthcare Facilities | Feb 6, 2024
New surgical tower enhances healthcare services of a Long Island, N.Y., hospital
The eight-story Petrocelli Surgical Pavilion includes 132 intensive care rooms.
Standards | Feb 1, 2024
Prioritizing water quality with the WELL Building Standard
In this edition of Building WELLness, DC WELL Accredited Professionals Hannah Arthur and Alex Kircher highlight an important item of the WELL Building Standard: water.
Industry Research | Jan 23, 2024
Leading economists forecast 4% growth in construction spending for nonresidential buildings in 2024
Spending on nonresidential buildings will see a modest 4% increase in 2024, after increasing by more than 20% last year according to The American Institute of Architects’ latest Consensus Construction Forecast. The pace will slow to just over 1% growth in 2025, a marked difference from the strong performance in 2023.
Giants 400 | Jan 23, 2024
Top 70 Medical Office Building Construction Firms for 2023
PCL Construction Enterprises, Swinerton, Skanska USA, Clark Group, and Hensel Phelps top BD+C's ranking of the nation's largest medical office building general contractors and construction management (CM) firms for 2023, as reported in the 2023 Giants 400 Report.
Giants 400 | Jan 23, 2024
Top 50 Medical Office Building Engineering Firms for 2023
Jacobs, Salas O'Brien, KPFF Consulting Engineers, IMEG, and Kimley-Horn head BD+C's ranking of the nation's largest medical office building engineering and engineering/architecture (EA) firms for 2023, as reported in the 2023 Giants 400 Report.
Giants 400 | Jan 23, 2024
Top 110 Medical Office Building Architecture Firms for 2023
SmithGroup, CannonDesign, E4H Environments for Health Architecture, and Perkins Eastman top BD+C's ranking of the nation's largest medical office building architecture and architecture engineering (AE) firms for 2023, as reported in the 2023 Giants 400 Report.