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Many natural elements are being incorporated into the Building Hope expansion, not only for healing and aesthetic purposes, but also for environmental friendliness and sustainability.
A feature starting to take shape on the new expansion are the “green” roofs… which are literally roofs covered in vegetation. Read full post »
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Guest Blog from Todd Johnson, VP Facilities
It has been exciting to see the exterior work on the building begin and interior construction is starting to take shape. I spent some time over the past month working with our construction and internal teams to create a ‘mock’ patient room. Until now we have only been able to use cardboard and tape to develop what we believe will create an optimal patient experience and new model of care. It has been great to see a real room take shape. Read full post »
You may have noticed the sky bridge currently under construction that is connecting the existing building to the Building Hope expansion across five floors. Designing it was a challenge for a variety of reasons: the slope Seattle Children’s is built on; creating fire lane access below the sky bridge; working around multiple underground utilities; and accommodating very different earthquake movements of the two connected buildings.
After considering many options, it was determined that the best solution was to design the sky bridge as a floating structure, with joints at each floor level between the adjacent buildings. The design also incorporates a sloped steel truss that allows the eastern half of the sky bridge at each floor level to hang from a pair of diagonal columns.
This week work begins on many of the major components of the exterior of the building. Crews will begin to install the natural stone shingles, metal window frames and glass, and ribbed metal panels. Later this year work will begin on installation of the frosted glass awnings and the orange, green and blue colored glass fins.
Special Fraco lifts will be used to help workers safely move up and down the building and also allows them to move side-to-side as they work on installation of the exterior components. In recent years Fraco lifts have become a popular alternative to scaffolding and create safer work environments and efficiency in installation. Read full post »
Work continues this morning, March 5th in the fire lane with a ‘vacuum truck’. The truck will then move over to the Hartmann site around noon to do similar work.
Vacuum trucks suck up dirt in a cylindrical fashion so that concrete footings for light poles can be set and poured. This is the safest way to do this work with critical hospital utilities in the area and should result in less vibration. However, the trucks vacuum can be noisy – so we appreciate your patience as this work takes place. Read full post »
On Friday, March 2, we will be completing necessary work in the fire lane with a ‘vacuum truck’. Vacuum trucks suck up dirt in a cylindrical fashion so that concrete footings for light poles can be set and poured. This is the safest way to do this work with critical hospital utilities in the area and should result in less vibration. However, the trucks vacuum can be noisy – so we appreciate your patience as this work takes place. Read full post »
The rules are simple for Star Commuters Matt Willis and Scott Flowers’ vanpool – the first rule of “vanpool club”: mutual respect. The second rule of “vanpool club”: show up on time.
Matt (left) and Scott (right) serve as primary driver and backup driver/bookkeeper (respectively) for an 11-member vanpool that travels about 70 miles each day to and from the Marysville area, making stops in Lynnwood and Everett. Read full post »
Continuing to document the progress of our expansion through aerial photos, you’ll now see some very bright color on the new building taking shape (it’s not actually the color of the new building’s exterior… just the materials underneath). Read full post »
Lots of work is underway on various landscaping features surrounding the existing and new hospital buildings.
Along the west side of the existing building, crews are grading for the fire lane which consists of a concrete walkway and retaining wall. Concrete and pump trucks and other equipment will be onsite to complete this work by mid-February.
Crews are also working to install the retaining wall and concrete stairs at the southeast corner of the site. Read full post »