Banner Estrella Medical Center

Phoenix, AZ

Syska Hennessy Group provided consulting and engineering services for this "Hospital of the Future". The building systems were designed in a modular fashion with maximum flexibility and selective redundancy to facilitate the planned expansion of the hospital with minimal impact on the central systems. The hospital expansion included the addition of two new patient towers and expansion of the Diagnostic and Treatment Center and the Central Plant.

Because the hospital is located in a desert environment, special attention was placed on the additional cooling needs of the facility, along with the need to limit outside equipment exposure to the elements. Visual aesthetics were also a priority consideration in the location of key equipment. The Hospital’s new central plant facility was strategically located out of the way of future hospital expansion areas. This created some challenges as the location was not directly adjacent to the first phase Tower and the Diagnostic and Treatment facility. Syska engineers designed a utility tunnel directly connecting the central plant to the Tower and the D&T facility, to allow for easy maintainability and accessibility and to facilitate “back of house” delivery outside of the patient areas and future facility expansion.