About the Project
This project was designed and constructed for a joint venture consisting of the Johns Hopkins Health System and Anne Arundel Health System. Each health system had multiple tenants and the space was to be divided evenly between both systems.
The overall size of this building was fixed based on Anne Arundel County’s parking requirements, so usable square footage had to be maximized. Each health system also wanted lobby exposure for their key tenants.
The site was sloped, so rather than spend significant money building major retaining walls to create a flat site, the team took advantage of the slope and created entries and lobbies at two levels, giving each health system lobby exposure. A large portion of the lower level was used for an imaging suite since it could not have windows.
A third stair tower was designed to help minimize the amount of corridor space in the building and to locate AAHS’ imaging suite directly adjacent to the orthopaedic and physical therapy suites. It also allowed all of Johns Hopkins’ suites on the second floor to abut and their primary care suite utilized the entire third floor without any public corridors.
The design utilized steel frames and a masonry skin with punched windows, setting up the exterior walls on a five foot module to allow perpendicular partitions to abut either a mullion or section of wall every five feet. This worked out well as the majority of the tenants used ten foot wide exam rooms and fifteen foot long procedure rooms as their standard. To address IT requirements for buildings, we made certain that appropriate conduits provided access to IT rooms from the street and that pathways (conduits, cable trays) to each suite exist. Shafts, elevators and stairs were located to maximized open floor space around the building’s perimeter to accommodate fluctuation in the size of each tenant suite during shell and core design.
The diagnostic imaging suite located within this MOB offers a full range of services including a hot lab, a new 3T MRI, relocated Fluoroscopy equipment, relocated 16 Slice CT Scanner, relocated Digital X-ray equipment, a new Dexa table, and two ultrasound rooms. In response to the needs of the various patient demographics, it offers increased privacy and security for the Ultrasound rooms and Dexa equipment by internalizing these rooms and their clinical support spaces to create a more private atmosphere as required for this patient population. Planning considerations allow for the ease of future equipment upgrades as needed while maximizing spatial efficiencies through the use of a shared control room for the MRI and CT spaces. Consideration was also given to the privacy and comfort of the physician’s reading room by limiting the potential for noisy distractions and using specific finishes, colors, and specialized lighting. The strategic location of this suite within the MOB also allows for the sharing of services from the adjacent Orthopaedic and Physical Therapy suites.
