In our healthcare practice, a new design vision must often accommodate preexisting structures, adapting an existing footprint to meet the changing needs and delivery modalities of evolving patient care. In our work with West Virginia University, HED was challenged to reimagine an in-process build, transforming a recent tower addition from a planned children’s hospital to a world-class heart and vascular facility.

At the time HED joined the project, many of the building’s key elements—including the inner core, shell, column spacing, floor-to-ceiling height, load-bearing capacity and utility distribution—were already in place; however, the necessary conditions for critical cardiac care—like operating rooms—were not.

Through an imaginative, integrated reworking of the existing layout, HED’s team was able to deliver a design that not only met, but ultimately surpassed, industry standards. Today, WVU’s Heart and Vascular Institute is one of the largest dedicated centers in the mid-Atlantic region, and is internationally recognized for its clinical excellence and research.