Final Beam Placed for Christ Hospital Joint and Spine Center

CINCINNATI — The Christ Hospital Joint and Spine Center will provide specialized care in a centralized location for orthopaedic, spine care, education and clinical outcomes research. Targeting a summer 2015 opening, the final beam for the building’s structural steelwork was placed Oct. 25.

The eight-story addition will feature 60 private inpatient rooms, 12 operating rooms, physical and occupational therapy, pain management, imaging services, conference and educational facilities, and physician offices. Because of the array of facilities and services located in the building, diagnosis and treatment can take place all in one location.

Designed by Chicago-based Skidmore, Owings and Merrill (SOM), the Joint and Spine Center will provide one stop convenience for patients, according to Peter Van Vetchen, AIA, director at SOM.

“The entire facility was designed with the goal of optimizing patient experience as the primary principle of the design,” Van Vetchen said. “In addition to offering a full range of services, the joint and spine center transforms the existing hospital by clarifying public movements and spaces, providing ample access to views.”

Because the building serves a specialized purpose, it also came with unique needs. The treatment of orthopaedic patients often requires a greater amount of equipment and therefore more space is needed than the typical medical or surgery unit. Designers used the need for ample space to their benefit.

“We used this to our advantage to set up the patient room module to be flexible for any use in the future, including critical care, thus not limiting the useful life of the building over the years,” said Joan Suchomel, AIA, director at SOM.

The building uses a great deal of glass in its design for ample views and daylighting. Floor-to-ceiling glass in patient rooms, translucent glass patient walls along the corridor and a narrow central support zone allows natural light in all spaces, Van Vetchen said. Open-air gardens are also incorporated into the design to strengthen the connection to the outdoors.

“Exterior gardens were developed at the main level, providing a place of relief, and at the roof floor to take advantage of the great views of Cincinnati,” Van Vetchen said.

The exterior architecture of the building will take into account the architectural language of the existing hospital by using a brick exterior while also creating a new vision for the Cincinnati skyline.

“The new joint and spine center utilizes brick in a contemporary composition, adeptly balancing solidity with porosity. The podium is composed with a series of smaller-scale windows that appropriately respond to the program,” Van Vetchen said. ”The patient floors utilize a curtain wall with exterior sunshades. Anchoring the composition, a central lantern is on axis with the historic cupola continuing the theme of light that the cupola established.”

The cupola, constructed in the 1930s, can be seen from miles away in the night sky. With the addition of the central lantern, hospital officials hope to build on the architectural icon.

The center is part of a larger $265 million expansion of The Christ Hospital’s Mount Auburn campus, which also includes a new visitor garage, materials management building and renovated main entry. Construction manager Messer Construction Co., which holds local offices, is leading the construction of the project.