Sutter Health: California Pacific Medical Center
Leading with innovative design and engineering for Sutter Health’s new flagship space.
Our team partnered with Sutter Health to design and engineer their new flagship hospital which both redefined their brand and showcased advanced engineering practices.
Company:
Sutter Health
What I did:
Design
Program Management
Creative Strategy
Cross-Functional Collaboration
Project Management
My role:
Designer & Program Manager
Timeline:
Q1 2007 - Q3 2018
The Problem
Sutter Health's existing campuses faced challenges of aging infrastructure and fragmented care delivery, impacting patient outcomes and operational efficiency. These issues significantly impacted the user experience and lead to costly operational inefficiencies, necessitating a comprehensive rebranding and redesign to meet modern healthcare standards.
A solution rooted in user-centric design, advanced engineering, and future-driven design was necessary to enhance the user experience and improve operational efficiency.
Context
The City of San Francisco is one of the most complex places to design in. From stringent seismic laws, to dense city infrastructure, to high cost, developing cutting edge and well designed solutions are always a challenge, especially in the state of California.
Sutter Health is one of California’s largest not-for-profit healthcare systems, serving over 100 communities in the state. Nationally recognized for cardiac care, neonatology, transplant care, and neurosurgery, Sutter serves more of the Medi-Cal patient population in Northern California than any other health system. Sutter Health thrives on innovative care and technology forward design while providing centralized services under the same roof.
Services Provided (but not limited to):
Emergency Services
Gynecology and Women’s Health
Heart and Vascular Services
Imaging
Laboratory
Neurology
Pediatrics
Physical Therapy
Pulmonary Care
Surgical Services
Transplant Services
Full list of services here
Improving access to healthcare relieves cost barriers for patients and providers, positively influences user health outcomes, and strengthens the city’s health and economy.
Some numbers for context:
$1.5 Billion
US cost savings annually due to cardiac, neonatal, transplant, and neurosurgery access
$150 Million
Operational cost savings due to innovative technology and design
1,500
The amount of jobs created by the opening of CPMC Sutter Health
20%
Reduction in infection spread due to advanced technology implementation
50%
The amount of Californian’s who use Medi-Cal as their primary coverage
Design Tenets
Three primary tenets shaped the vision and strategy, guiding us through the complex design process:
User-Centric
Designing with the user at the center of the solution
Advanced Engineering
Designing with the patient at the center of design
Future-Driven
Design supported by new technology and sustainability
User-Centric
Designing with the user at the center of the solution
CPMC emphasizes Sutter Health’s commitment to the diverse communities it serves and all of the users it encompasses. Centralized care lies at the center of this strategy while a system-wide strategic master plan unites multiple urban campuses into a central hub. This hub provides comprehensive services including maternity, children's health, adult acute care, women's health.
Maternity Services
More than half of all babies delivered in San Francisco are delivered at CPMC at a rate of about 4,000 deliveries per year, causing it to be the number one maternity service provider in the city. Creating spaces that are safe, calming, and efficient are critical to expert labor and delivery care.
Pediatric Services
CPMC offers a large range of pediatric services, including 24/7 emergency care and comprehensive child life programs, covering over 25 specialized areas.
Adult Acute Care
CPMC serves nearly 3.5 million patients with 274 private acute care beds and an expanded emergency department. The hospital's integrated platform enhances surgery, imaging, and cardiac care, while offering specialized services in organ transplants, gastroenterology, pediatric emergency care, and advanced heart procedures.
Women’s Health
Combining advanced technology with comprehensive care, a range of services through CPMC are provided for women'e health. Some of these include linking access to the Breast Cancer Recovery Program, which has supported over 25,000 women and performs over 45,000 imaging procedures annually, and other specialty programs such as the Pelvic Health Clinic and the Ovarian and Reproductive Cancer Recovery Program.
Photography Credit of Cross-functional Partner: Jennifer Beatty
Advanced Engineering
Design supported by new technology and sustainability
Sutter Health CPMC is at the forefront of structural design becoming the first building in the nation to implement an advanced type of engineering called Viscous Wall Dampers (VWD): a seismic dampening system designed to absorb nearly 90% of an earthquake’s energy. Additionally, the next-generation program dissolves departmental boundaries to enhance workflow and productivity, exemplified by the integrated interventional platform combining surgery, imaging, and recovery services in a cohesive unit.
This system was developed in Japan and had not net been used in the U.S. meaning the system needed to go through a series of approvals to allow its usage in California. Structural Engineers Degenkolb, led this effort to validate the technology, implementing full-scale testing of the dampers at the University of California, San Diego.
Not only does this highly advanced structural engineering provide but shock resistance, but it also reduced the weight of the steel framing by 1/3rd in comparison to standard steel moment framing reducing the cost of the overall structural system by 25%. This design will help CPMC remain open even after a shock as strong as the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake (which registered a 7.9 magnitude).
This project and technology has created a lasting impact on the nation moving forward. Now that this has been vetted and successfully implemented, future U.S. buildings can now benefit from this system creating the opportunity for improved seismic performance, particularly in critical acute care facilities following major earthquakes.
How it works:
Future-Driven
Design supported by new technology and sustainability
Sutter Health takes pride in setting the stage as one of the most innovative healthcare providers in the state, constantly seeking to push boundaries in the technology and sustainability space. CPMC echoes this value while redefining what a hospital means to a city, integrating health, wellness, and advanced technology. The use of forward-thinking methodologies, such as Lean programming and state-of-the-art modeling and fabrication techniques, contributes to creating one of the smartest, safest, and most sustainable hospitals in the country, earning CPMC LEED silver certification, making it one of the largest LEED certified hospitals in the world.
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Sutter Health recognized the importance of an Integrated Project Delivery (IPD) approach to manage the risks associated with large-scale projects. The IPD method, which aligns stakeholders and fosters collaboration, allowed the team to deliver the CPMC Van Ness project on time and $150 million under budget, highlighting the effectiveness of a shared risk and reward system.
The use of Building Information Modeling (BIM) in the IPD process enabled over 300 professionals from 25 companies to contribute to a coordinated 3D model, ensuring that potential challenges were addressed in advance, contributing to the project's success.
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CPMC Van Ness Campus utilizes a Real Time Location System (RTLS) for tracking patients, staff, and equipment, enhancing the efficiency and safety of the hospital environment. This technology, combined with an integrated nurse call system and advanced media systems, ensures seamless communication between patients and their care teams.
The hospital's infrastructure supports cutting-edge technologies like badge-enabled hand hygiene monitoring and smart pneumatic tube systems, streamlining operations and reducing the potential for errors in medication and sample delivery.
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CPMC Van Ness is designed to achieve LEED Silver certification, incorporating features such as captured rainwater for rooftop gardens and high-efficiency plumbing fixtures, which together save over 3 million gallons of water annually. The hospital also uses 14% less power than the average U.S. hospital, reflecting a commitment to energy efficiency and environmental stewardship.
The integration of natural materials, touchable artwork, and living roof gardens into the hospital’s design not only enhances patient well-being but also reinforces the facility's sustainable approach to healthcare environments.
The Process
The success of this project relied heavily on the collaborative and dynamic efforts of all cross-functional partners. As this was one of the largest projects in firm history and involved over 300 employees across 25 companies, multiple foolproof systems were needed to keep the project on track.
This resulted in teams working together in the “Big Room” directly across from the project site. Daily Big Room meetings and the integrated project delivery (IPD) method, kept the project schedule on track, resulting in an earlier delivery date. This approach enabled our team and cross-functional partners to collaborate from start to finish, with design consultants and contractors involved early on beginning with the validation phase. Additionally, a building information modeling (aka ‘BIM’ which includes 3D rendering, models, and drawings) approach enabled the IPD team to virtually "build" the hospital before actual construction, allowing for coordination and adjustments to avoid real-world clashes.
Project Highlights
The City of San Francisco is one of the most complex places to design in. From stringent seismic laws, to dense city infrastructure, to high cost, developing cutting edge and well designed solutions are always a challenge, especially in the state of California.
Sutter Health is one of California’s largest not-for-profit healthcare systems, serving over 100 communities in the state. Nationally recognized for cardiac care, neonatology, transplant care, and neurosurgery, Sutter serves more of the Medi-Cal patient population in Northern California than any other health system. Sutter Health thrives on innovative care and technology forward design while providing centralized services for diverse users under the same roof.
A special thank you to all of our cross-functional teams including and not limited to: our partner Sutter Health, the entire SmithGroup team, HerreroBOLDT (construction team), Ted Jacobs Engineering Group (mechanical and plumbing), Degenkolb Engineers (structural), Silverman and Light (electrical), OneEQ (formerly RTKL; medical equipment), etc.