flexiblefullpage
billboard
interstitial1
catfish1
Currently Reading

Plans for a massive research hospital in Dallas anticipates need for child healthcare

Hospital Design Trends

Plans for a massive research hospital in Dallas anticipates need for child healthcare

HKS, Perkins&Will, McCarthy, and J.T. Vaughn are part of the project’s design and building team.


By John Caulfield, Senior Editor | February 14, 2024
Aerial rendering of new pediatric hospital and campus. Image:
A 2-million-sf children's hospital will be part of a 33-plus-acre healthcare campus. Images: Children's Hospital and UT Southwestern Medical Center

Children’s Health and the UT Southwestern Medical Center have unveiled their plans for a new $5 billion pediatric health campus and research hospital on more than 33 acres within Dallas’ Southwestern Medical District. 

The campus, whose construction is expected to begin in the second half of this year and take six or seven years to complete, will serve as a hub for innovation, academic research and training, and technological development.

At nearly 2 million sf, the new hospital will house 552 beds, which will increase the inpatient capacity at Children’s Health by 38 percent. The hospital will also have 15 percent more emergency department (ED) space and 22 percent more operating room space, plus square footage for future expansion.

The facility will include a Level I pediatric trauma center with 90 ED exam rooms and 24 observation rooms. A new fetal care center will provide the region’s most advanced and accessible services for complex maternal and fetal health care.

Additional features include two helicopter pads, and a connector bridge between the new campus and UT Southwestern’s William P. Clements Jr. University Hospital.  A new outpatient building on campus will add 96 exam rooms to the 344 that will continue to operate at the existing Children’s Health Specialty Center Dallas.

All told, the project will entail 4.5 million sf of construction. A joint venture between McCarthy Building Companies and J.T. Vaughn Construction will serve as the project’s construction manager. HKS and Perkins&Will will serve as the design team. Other AEC firms on the project include GSR|Andrade Architects and subcontractor Post L Group.

Research hospital campus addresses market’s population growth

Dallas campus will include several research buildings
The new campus will serve as a hub for innovation, research, and technology.

The new pediatric center is a response to the Dallas-Fort Worth market’s increasing demand for healthcare. UT Southwestern cited estimates that by 2025, the region will be home to 8.5 million people, about 500,000 more than in 2023. There are currently about 2.5 million children in the region, a number that’s expected to surpass 3 million by 2032, and to double by 2050.

“The Children’s Health team and the physicians from UT Southwestern who work at Children’s Health are just incredible, compassionate caregivers,” said Rachel Knox, Partner and Leader of HKS’s Health practice. “We’re creating a facility that not only matches that level of care but will allow them to enhance it.”

Ian Sinnett, Health Principal for P&W’s Dallas studio, and the project’s planning director, added “This hospital will be a gamechanger for children and their families all across Texas—and for the incredible care staff committed to their healing journeys.”

Related Stories

| Mar 1, 2011

New survey shows shifts in hospital construction projects

America’s hospitals and health systems are focusing more on renovation or expansion than new construction, according to a new survey conducted by Health Facilities Management magazine and the American Society for Healthcare Engineering (ASHE). In fact, renovation or expansion accounted for 73% of construction projects at hospitals responding to the survey.

| Feb 22, 2011

HDR Architecture names four healthcare directors

Four senior professionals in HDR Architecture’s healthcare program have been named Healthcare directors.

| Feb 11, 2011

Iowa surgery center addresses both inpatient and outpatient care

The 12,000-person community of Carroll, Iowa, has a new $28 million surgery center to provide both inpatient and outpatient care. Minneapolis-based healthcare design firm Horty Elving headed up the four-story, 120,000-sf project for St. Anthony’s Regional Hospital. The center’s layout is based on a circular process flow, and includes four 800-sf operating rooms with poured rubber floors to reduce leg fatigue for surgeons and support staff, two substerile rooms between each pair of operating rooms, and two endoscopy rooms adjacent to the outpatient prep and recovery rooms. Recovery rooms are clustered in groups of four. The large family lounge (left) has expansive windows with views of the countryside, and television monitors that display coded information on patient status so loved ones can follow a patient’s progress.

| Feb 11, 2011

Two projects seek to reinvigorate Los Angeles County medical center

HMC Architects designed two new buildings for the Los Angeles County Martin Luther King, Jr., Medical Center as part of a $360 million plan to reinvigorate the campus. The buildings include a 120-bed hospital, which involves renovation of an existing tower and several support buildings, and the construction of a new multi-service ambulatory care center. The new facilities will have large expanses of glass at all waiting and public areas for unobstructed views of downtown Los Angeles. A curved glass entrance canopy will unite the two buildings. When both projects are completed—the hospital in 2012 and the ambulatory care center in 2013—the campus will have added more than 460,000 sf of space. The hospital will seek LEED certification, while the ambulatory care center is targeting LEED Silver.

| Feb 9, 2011

Hospital Construction in the Age of Obamacare

The recession has hurt even the usually vibrant healthcare segment. Nearly three out of four hospital systems have put the brakes on capital projects.  We asked five capital expenditure insiders for their advice on how Building Teams can still succeed in this highly competitive sector.

| Jan 31, 2011

HDR Architecture Releases Evidence-based Design Videos

As a follow-up to its book Evidence-based Design for Healthcare Facilities, HDR Architecture, Inc. has released three video case studies that highlight evidence-based design principles in action.

| Jan 31, 2011

CISCA releases White Paper on Acoustics in Healthcare Environments

The Ceilings & Interior Systems Construction Association (CISCA) has released an extensive white paper “Acoustics in Healthcare Environments” for architects, interior designers, and other design professionals who work to improve healthcare settings for all users. This white paper serves as a comprehensive introduction to the acoustical issues commonly confronted on healthcare projects and howbest to address those.

| Jan 21, 2011

Research center built for interdisciplinary cooperation

The Jan and Dan Duncan Neurological Research Institute at Texas Children’s Hospital, in Houston, the first basic research institute for childhood neurological diseases, is a 13-story twisting tower in the center of the hospital campus.

| Jan 19, 2011

New Fort Hood hospital will replace aging medical center

The Army Corps of Engineers selected London-based Balfour Beatty and St. Louis-based McCarthy to provide design-build services for the Fort Hood Replacement Hospital in Texas, a $503 million, 944,000-sf complex partially funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The firm plans to use BIM for the project, which will include outpatient clinics, an ambulance garage, a central utility plant, and three parking structures. Texas firms HKS Architects and Wingler & Sharp will participate as design partners. The project seeks LEED Gold.

boombox1
boombox2
native1

More In Category




halfpage1

Most Popular Content

  1. 2021 Giants 400 Report
  2. Top 150 Architecture Firms for 2019
  3. 13 projects that represent the future of affordable housing
  4. Sagrada Familia completion date pushed back due to coronavirus
  5. Top 160 Architecture Firms 2021