[ Page 2 of 6 ]

By Alan Joch

Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota

At 1.6 million square feet, the Gonda Building is the largest construction project in the long history of the Mayo Clinic. But size isn’t its biggest claim to fame: At its core, the building represents a new initiative to integrate various medical practices to improve collaboration among caregivers and provide more convenience for patients, who won’t have to be shuttled throughout the hospital for tests and treatments. This approach of taking testing equipment to patients, rather than the reverse, is gaining a foothold in other health care facilities, as well. “Construction costs for large facilities pale when compared to the operational efficiencies of not having to move patients throughout the hospital for certain tests,” says NBBJ’s Pangrazio.

In the Gonda Building, architects planned flexible spaces to accommodate future high-tech medical equipment.

The Gonda Building includes specialty clusters for the diagnosis and treatment of various types of cancers, as well as cardiovascular, vascular, urological, and other diseases. “The fit-out is still going on today, so there are five or six floors that are still unoccupied,” says Paul Zugates, director of health care for architecture firm Ellerbe Becket in Minneapolis. “If we have the flexibility we think we have, they can occupy parts of this building and move into the remaining space as they need it.”

Photography: © Steve Bergerson

In addition to collaborative clusters, the clinic also wanted the building to be flexible and adaptable for expansions over the next 50 years or more. To accomplish this, Ellerbe Becket provided excess capacity for HVAC, plumbing, electricity, fiber-optic communications, floor loads, and vibration control, not knowing where new equipment might be located in the building in the coming decades. “All the things that are hidden within buildings—the things behind the walls—are the expensive items within a health care facility,” Zugates says.

ADVERTISEMENT