DrawingMeanin “C


Expressing the mission of University Hospitals, Cleveland, in a unique parking garage at the heart of the campus


BY CHRISTOPHER P. TROTTA, AIA


ONCEAL THE CARS,” SAID leaders of the University Hospitals Case Medical Center (UHCMC), Cleveland, in their initial direction to designers of the new patient


parking Garage. Architects responded to that direc- tive—and so much more—in designing a high-quali- ty, meaningful contribution to the UHCMC campus. Placed at the heart of the UHCMC campus to provide adjacencies to important clinical services, the new University Hospitals Patient Parking Garage is a tan- gible expression of University Hospitals’mission: “To Heal. To Teach. To Discover.”As a result, the garage will serve not merely as a place to park, but as a sig- nificant contributor to patient satisfaction for patients, families and other visitors of UHCMC.


The six-story, 800-space garage is one of the projects under


the University Hospitals’ (UH)Vision 2010 strategic plan, which called for investments of more than $1 billion over five years. The plan reaffirms a strong commitment to theUHCMC campus


with newfacilities and the expansion of services, alongwith new construction and enhancements to the health system’s suburban ambulatory centers. Major UHCMC facilities projects at the EuclidAve. campus include a new Cancer Hospital and a new Center for Emergency for Medicine (CEM) to expand on the clinical services provided in the campus’ existing facilities. As with all of theVision 2010 projects, community engage-


ment, contextual cohesiveness, and the synergy evoked by the otherVision 2010 projects guided the design and architectural response of the parking garage. LernerTower provides the signa- tureUHCMCbackdrop,while the newCEMandCancerHospital provide a fitting framework for the garage’s design composition.


A Mission Cast in Stone, Metal and Glass UHCMC focus on patient and family centered experience


was the prime driver of the garage’s fundamental design concept, which clearly provides a unique arrival experience. The Array Healthcare Facilities Solutions design team translated the emo- tional concepts of “welcoming,” “embracing” and “caring” into design through the symbolism of the architecture. The underly- ing concept sketch figuratively illustrates arms reaching out to embrace and welcome a patient, signifying the caring and com- passion UH caregivers express to patients and their families. Unlike the design of the typical garage,Array’s architectural


expression connotes life, motion and energy. Typical garages are static in their general nature, and serve one primary function: to house cars. Because of its location at the very heart of the UHCMC campus, the garage design became the symbolic “front door,” which physicallymanifests the hospital system’smission. The signature perforatedmetal ribbons enveloping the park-


ing structure are key features to the successful execution of the design and translation of the mission. The east-facing metallic ribbons reach out from Lerner Tower to Euclid Avenue and extend a healing message to the community. The north-facing metallic ribbons extend from UH CaseMedical Center to Uni- versityHospitals’Drive and emphasize the collaboration and sig- nificance of the teaching component at UHCMC. Where these two powerful statements converge at theNorth-


west corner of the structure is the iconic representation of conflu- ence of the client’s major tenets of collaboration, and discovery. At night, the radiance of the human spirit is represented by a col- ored back light that accentuates this artistic corner. Colors cycle through a pre-selected range of hues and timing sequences. This juxtaposition of structure and light provides a warm and wel- coming glow to a dynamic focal point at the front door to the campus, as well as a calming backdrop to a potentially stressful patient experience. This feature also signifies the diversity of the community


served by UH, and it represents the inclusion initiatives that are driven by one of the health system’s core values: “We embrace diversity in people, thought, experiences and perspectives.”


18 OCTOBER 2009 • PARKING TODAY • www.parkingtoday.com


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