WHR Architects to Design RWJUH Expansion

NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. — A major expansion at the Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital (RWJUH) in New Brunswick is underway after the announcement of Houston-based WHR Architects as the project architect.

The hospital expansion will consist of three levels of additional bed units, new surgery units, public spaces and a new southern entry for the hospital. The expansion is proposed as an overbuild project because of the urban constraints. The fact that it will hover over existing buildings will likely pose challenges in terms of how it connects to the existing hospital and the rest of the surrounding setting.

WHR Architects proposed cost-effective design solutions, as well as specific ways of dealing with the construction challenges. Its urban approach to the design enhances the curb appeal on the facing street and develops the project as a new portal into the existing campus.

Because WHR Architects suggested a wide range of design possibilities that developed what WHR calls “holistic, healing and patient-centered environments,” the architecture firm was awarded the contract. “We came to them not with an absolute solution, but with ideas,” said Tushar Gupta, AIA, WHR principal and senior project designer.

WHR Architects is currently working on other health care projects, including the Ocean Medical Center expansion project in Brick, N.J., and the Stamford Hospital expansion in Stamford, Conn. The construction team broke ground on the $82 million Ocean Medical Center in April 2012, and the project is expected for completion in spring 2014. The Stamford Hospital celebrated the expansion ground breaking in May 2013, and the project is slated for completion in 2016.