Yale New Haven Hospital

When Yale New Haven Hospital, the primary teaching hospital for Yale University School of Medicine, needed to expand beyond its walls, it knew it faced some major dilemmas. The 2.5 million SF facility housing 944 beds prided itself on its deep local ties and strong commitment to serving the community. It was reluctant to encroach further into surrounding neighborhoods, yet the only direction where it owned buildable land abutted a residential area.

Clearly the hospital wanted to fully explore all solutions and develop the smartest plan that would remain sensitive to its mission. In January 2008, it engaged Heery International to help create a master plan that would not only tackle the immediate needs of more beds and reorganized service lines, but also guide the hospital towards a ten-year plan.

“Yale New Haven Hospital is growing but they don’t know how best to grow,” said Doug Infelt, project planner from Heery, one of a multi-firm team working on the project. Other team members include Kurt Salmon Associates, a leader in academic medical center programming, and PWI Engineering. “Our job is to define for the hospital the best way to meet their future projections and address how decisions will impact the hospital, as well as the university, the city, and the neighborhood,” said Infelt.

The eight-month planning project, scheduled to be completed in August 2008, will create multiple options to increase the existing facility to 3.5 million square feet, maximize the number of private patient rooms, and expand the hospital’s capacity to deliver more outpatient services through a larger ambulatory care network.

“We know healthcare will change, so the master plan has to be a dynamic document that can change and flex into the future,” said Infelt. “In this master plan there are ultimately two to three good solutions and time will tell which one is the best way to go.  We’re making sure the hospital has alternatives so it can stay flexible and address multiple civic and political concerns.”

One of the central focuses of the master plan is how to add the extra million square feet onto a rather complex and unforgiving site when land is at a premium. Currently, the hospital is organized around a central atrium surrounded by four pavilions, or quadrants. Patients circulate around the central atrium and then head toward the quadrant of choice.  The master plan had to come up with a way to add a fifth quadrant even though there was no space within the current footprint.

“It took a unique solution to break out of the box they are in,” said Infelt. “Instead of adding a piece onto the box, we changed the shape of the box.”

Creating a fundamental shift in the hospital’s radial organization, Heery devised a more linear organization that could embrace a concourse leading out to a new “outer ring” where patients would find the fifth quadrant. Through the use of existing color palates and materials, the new concourse and quadrant will have the same look and feel as the other quadrants, creating a sense of continuity. “Patients will not know when they are moving from one quadrant to the next,” explained Infelt.

Strategically, the master plan will provide initiatives to enhance fundraising opportunities now and into the future. One example is to potentially make the fifth quadrant into a Children’s and Maternal Health Pavilion, a move that would emphasize the hospital’s commitment to that service line and attract donors. Said Infelt, “This type of planning strategy is key for an institution like Yale New Haven to be able to serve its mission and also thrive as a business.”