Greener Than Green

New Kaiser Modesto Project Utilizes New Sustainability Methods, Products

By Greg Aragon

With each new hospital campus construction project, Kaiser Permanente ups the ante for sustainability. And nowhere are the green elements as striking as its current $462 million project in Modesto.

Though Kaiser will not be seeking a third-party certification under any green building rating system, the firm is using the Kaiser Modesto Medical Center project to test a variety of green pilot programs.

One main green feature is the extensive use of pervious asphalt. General contractor Harbison-Mahony-Higgins Builders, Inc. of Sacramento used 4,400 tons of permeable pavement spread atop all parking areas. This type of coating is more porous than average pavement and prevents wasteful run-off during heavy rains by giving water room to seep down through its surface. In so doing it acts as a natural filter, removing chemicals before the water reaches the ground.

To apply the surface, crews first excavate the site and install a filter fabric, followed by a perforated pipe to distribute the water evenly. They then they apply a two-inch washed rough aggregate before laying down the pavement.

Mike Hrast, Kaiser project director, said that this project represents the largest application of permeable pavement west of the Mississippi and Kaiser estimates the process will save approximately $290,000 in project costs.

Other green features include photovoltaic screens to shield rooftop equipment and generate electricity; photovoltaic parking lights along the entrance road; rubber flooring instead of vinyl composition tile (VCT), which is known to leach toxins; PVC-free carpeting that is 100 percent recyclable; and a low-maintenance grass roof over the main lobby, which will reduce heating costs and add an estimated 20 years to the life of the roof.

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A pilot study also determined that the use of cotton batt insulation resulted in better acoustic properties than traditional fiberglass, plus the batt insulation is made from 100 percent recycled cotton and other natural fibers.

Meanwhile, the Kaiser Modesto Medical Center project is moving along towards a November 2007 completion. Its design may look familiar, since it is using the same template design as the other Kaiser projects in Vacaville, Antioch, and Irvine.

"The advantages to the template approach are that we can reduce design fees on future hospitals, accelerate the approval process for these hospitals, and I believe that contractors will be able to bid these projects more competitively in the future based upon their experience," said Hrast.

The facility sits on 50 acres in Modesto, 90 miles east of San Francisco. It consists of a five-story, 400,000-sq.-ft. main hospital with two nursing towers and 224-bed; a 254,000-sq.-ft., four-story support wing; and a 29,000-sq.-ft. central utility plant. The project also features 25 acres of parking and 10 acres of landscaping.

Facilities include six operating rooms, 36 birthing rooms, 20 ICU beds and 24 Neonatal Intensive Care beds. All patient rooms are single-bed units with a private restroom and a window to allow in natural light. Each will offer internet access and sleeper sofas for family members.

Because the Modesto hospital is based on a template, architects were able to concentrate on fine tuning instead of coming up with a whole new design.

"The biggest benefit of a template is being able to see what was done before and think of ways to improve it," said Michael Wilson, project director with San Francisco-based Chong Partners Architecture, which designed the project in a joint venture with San Francisco-based SmithGroup and Sacramento-based Lionakis Beaumont Design Group. "Each time you go through this process, you are refining the design and the construction issues, so it's a new way of doing architecture."

Hrast said that improvements made this time around include things like "logically" adjoining departments between the hospital and the support wing to make it easier for patients to arrive at proper hospital locations.

"For instance, a patient might have an appointment for a surgical procedure and perhaps forget if it's in our outpatient surgical suite or in the inpatient OR," said Hrast. "All the [patient] has to do is arrive at the second floor where we have one waiting area for both departments."

Other examples include moving the maternity ward next to pediatrics and obstetrics-gynecology to keep these patients and doctors in the same area, and breaking up the traditional central nursing station and spreading it throughout the building to better reach different patients.

The Project Team
Owner: Kaiser Permanente
General Contractor: Harbison-Mahony-Higgins Builders Inc.
Architects: Lionakis Beaumont Design Group, Chong Partners Architecture, SmithGroup
Civil Engineer: Mark Thomas & Associates
Structural & Mechanical Engineers: Lionakis Beaumont Design Group, ARUP, Capital Engineering