Childrens Hospital Los Angeles New Patient Tower

As general contractor, Rudolph and Sletten used communication and collaboration to enable the construction team to meet challenges while maintaining long-term focus on the vision of building a family-centered care facility.

At approximately 480,000 square feet in size, the new seven-story, 317-bed hospital building at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles includes an emergency department and trauma center with 30 private exam rooms; leading edge imaging facilities; a 48-bed acute care hematology/oncology unit and a 14-bed bone marrow transplant unit; a 24-bed cardiothoracic intensive care unit and a 21-bed acute heart care unit; a 24-bed pediatric intensive care unit; and a 58-bed newborn and infant critical care unit. There are also 128 additional medical and surgical acute care beds.

“Working as a team with the owner and architect early in the process gave the project a huge advantage. Our ability to make decisions collectively using a “project first” mindset and a clear set of guiding principles developed a unified vision for the duration of the construction project.” Martin Sisemore,
President and CEO,
Rudolph and Sletten

Full-scale mock-ups of PICU, NICU and acute patient rooms were built using a variety of proposed finishes, medical equipment and furniture options. Childrens Hospital Los Angeles’ Family-Centered Care Committee, a group of patients and parents toured the mock-ups and provided frank and constructive feedback, which resulted in improved functionality and increased privacy, while eliminating construction cost on the order of 5 to 1 when compared to the cost of the mock-up construction. The approved mock-ups became the “benchmark” for quality on the project and the basis for the multiple “first install” rooms throughout the building.

The mock-ups allowed for the creation of customized prefabricated elements such as headwalls. Previously limited to catalog choices, the team’s innovative approach allowed for the customized headwalls to be mass produced at an offsite location, where they were fully tested and inspected, bundled and prepared for onsite installation as a unitized component. The “plug and play” method of assembly and installation reduced cost and schedule, while providing the client with the exact headwall they required.

To achieve a facility that more fully integrates parents into their child’s care, the new building features spacious private rooms, designed with three distinct areas: a clinical area that houses sophisticated medical equipment; a family area that includes space for parents to stay overnight; and a patient area that features lighting and designs to help make children feel at home.

“By building a facility that allows families to heal and learn together, helps them to learn about the challenges of the particular illness or injury and makes it easier to manage their lives, we empower them to be better caregivers, better parents.” Mary Dee Hacker, RN,
Vice President and Chief Nursing Officer,
Childrens Hospital Los Angeles

Children can visit Chase Place playrooms for therapeutic play. Teenagers have a lounge that includes a media center and a kitchenette, as well as space for computer games, arts and crafts, and more. Dining facilities on the ground floor open onto spacious gardens. The hospital building also features a convenience store open 24-hours-a-day. A state-of-the-art Family Resource Center provides information for parents about their child’s health care needs so that they can participate more fully in caregiving. The project also included a 3-level, 201-stall parking structure, an emergency generator building and a central (chiller) plant expansion.

“Our community needed this new hospital building at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles and our team, consisting of ZGF Architects, CLEO Construction Management and Rudolph and Sletten, met the demand by building the finest medical and surgical environment for seriously ill and injured children anywhere in the United States.” Richard D. Cordova, FACHE,
President and CEO,
Childrens Hospital Los Angeles

The completion of this new Hospital Tower represents the fourth major new construction project that Rudolph and Sletten has built at this campus over the previous decade. Past projects include the Marion and John E. Anderson Surgery Center, the Saban Research Institute and a major underground parking expansion.