Best Project Health Care: Hackensack University Medical Center Helena Theurer Pavilion

Built on a tight urban site, the 530,000-sq-ft pavilion unites multiple programs and services within a limited floorplate. The nine-story building, which broke ground in January 2018, required 12 enabling projects to demolish existing buildings and relocate switchgear, an oxygen farm, boilers and chillers into a new four-story central utility plant across from the hospital. Over four miles of electrical wire were placed within conduits under a roadway to tie the campus together.

The building spans a public roadway and connects to an existing parking garage and four of the hospital’s floors. To make the connections, the team built prefabricated 20-ft-tall by 80-ft-long trusses to create a span. Adding to the challenge, the hospital garage needed to remain accessible during construction, including two entrances directly underneath the work zone area. A 25-ft-deep trench also had to be excavated 6 ft from the 100-year-old existing hospital to create a dedicated lobby to link with the pavilion.