Stamford Hospital Breaks Ground on Expansion

STAMFORD, Conn. — Stamford Hospital celebrated the ground breaking of a new hospital expansion May 14, designed by WHR Architects, with offices in Lake Como, N.J.

The expansion is geared towards patient-centered, efficient and technologically advanced health care practices, and will replace outdated buildings that date back decades.

The new 11-story, 636,247-square-foot facility is estimated to be $450 million and will feature patient care units that each have private rooms and bathrooms, as well as centralized nursing stations and dedicated family spaces on each floor. The emergency department will have separate treatment areas for trauma, cardiac, urgent behavioral health and pediatric patients, and will more than double the number and size of exam rooms.

Other features include larger surgical suites to allow for new technologies; a pediatric unit in the Whittingham Pavilion, with a location adjacent to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit; an expansion of the Intensive Care Unit; and a central location for Heart & Vascular Institute services such as electrophysiology, catheterization and interventional labs.

“As a partner in the Plantree organization, the design of the new facility reflects the philosophy that places a priority on providing the highest levels of patient and family care,” said Tushar Gupta, AIA, the project designer, in a statement. “Stamford recognizes the interdependence between an efficient, healthful environment and the well-being of people and the facility embodies those principles at every level of design — from clinical space to patient rooms to the way that the new building is connected to its community context. This includes the use of natural light and a building design more closely integrating the facilities with nature, along with more effective noise control and way-finding.”

To prepare for construction, the hospital combined two of its main entrances into one at the Whittingham Pavilion in April and it now offers visitors free valet parking.
The project is scheduled for completion in 2016.