WHR Architects Awarded Major New Expansion for Prestigious Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital

08/06/2013 | WHR Architects

WHR Architects has been selected to design a major new expansion for the prestigious Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital (RWJUH) in New Brunswick, New Jersey, one of the nation’s leading academic medical centers. WHR Architects was the top choice among some of the most experienced and respected medical architecture firms nationally because of its direct and comprehensive approach to addressing complex site, programmatic, and structural issues for Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital’s new South Building Overbuild project. Importantly, the firm also has a long history in the state of New Jersey having completed five additional hospitals in the state.

“The opportunity to work with Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital on this challenging project spurred us to explore the possibilities with several different solutions,” said Charles Griffin, AIA, FACHA, EDAC, WHR’s principal-in-charge for the project. “We believed that our experience delivering complex healthcare projects in dense urban environments as well as our long commitment to evidence and knowledge-based design would be of great value to the hospital. We are very pleased to be part of their team.”

The hospital expansion will consist of three levels of additional bed units, new surgery units, public spaces, as well as a major new southern entry for the hospital. Due to dense urban constraints, the expansion is being proposed as an overbuild project, which, owing to the fact that it will hover over existing buildings, can pose considerable challenges in terms of how it connects to the overall fabric of the existing hospital campus and the surrounding urban setting.

By proposing an array of viable, cost-effective, and exciting design possibilities, WHR Architects won the confidence of Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital leadership. “We came to them not with an absolute solution,” says Tushar Gupta, AIA, WHR principal and senior project designer, “but with ideas.”

Those ideas consisted of comprehensive ways of dealing with construction challenges as well as creating what WHR calls “holistic, healing, and patient-centered environments.” Moreover, WHR’s urban approach to the design enhances the curb appeal on the facing street and conceives of the project as a new portal into the existing campus.

“WHR Architects connected immediately with our team at RWJ,” said Vincent D. Joseph, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer. “They jumped right into the project bringing not only technical expertise and fresh design ideas, but a real passion and commitment to the work.”

Among WHR’s recent and current healthcare projects are a new expansion hospital for Stamford hospital in Stamford, Connecticut, the Louis and Peaches Owen Heart Hospital at Trinity Mother Frances Hospital in Tyler, Texas, Children’s Medical Center of Dallas, Rex UNC Healthcare Heart & Vascular Hospital in North Carolina.

Over the last 26 years, WHR has completed multiple projects with New Jersey healthcare providers including Jersey Shore University Medical Center, Ocean Medical Center and Riverview Medical Center for Meridian Healthcare System, and Morristown Hospital and Overlook Hospital for Atlantic Healthcare System.

Contact Nancy Egan, National PR Consultant at New Voodou or Michael Jones, Public Relations Manager at WHR Architects for additional information.

 

About WHR Architects, Inc.
WHR Architects is a full service architecture, interior design and technology planning firm. The firm’s commitment to critical thinking is balanced by an ingrained empathy that results in both improved project outcomes and positive working experiences for their clients. With over 130 people in Houston and Dallas, Texas, and New Jersey, the 34-year-old firm is working on projects throughout the US for top–tier public and private education and medical institutions. For more information about WHR Architects, visit www.whrarchitects.com and follow @whrarchitects on Twitter.