The new 120-bed hospital will provide a full spectrum of inpatient and outpatient services to veterans in Central Florida where there is an increasing demand for primary and specialty care, and a need for acute care beds.
The decision to begin design is a result of the VA CARES program, a planning process to ensure that veterans’ future needs for accessible, quality healthcare are met, and to align capital assets to meet those needs. The Department of Veterans Affairs operates the largest integrated healthcare system in the country with more than 1,300 sites of care.
RLF designed the original VA Hospital in Orlando and is familiar with local design criteria and regulations. The Winter Park, Fla., firm also teamed successfully with Ellerbe Becket on two major Orlando healthcare projects, the Walt Disney Memorial Cancer Institute and the Florida Hospital North Surgery Expansion.
“At the time of the selection, the VA told us our team had a number of strengths that distinguished us from the competition,” said Ellerbe Becket Project Director Tom Anglim, AIA. “The VA gave us high marks for our management team (Ellerbe Becket’s Bil Catron, RA, and RLF’s Sandy Cohn, AIA), our medical planning expertise (Roland Binker, AIA, of Ellerbe) and our previous site experience (RLF’s Cohn and Scott Fote worked on the design of the existing VA hospital in Orlando).”
In addition, the RLF/Ellerbe Becket joint venture was the only team to include a local urban planner (Millen Sellen Cannon & Walsh).
Anglim says the design team will provide programming, planning, architecture, interiors, engineering, medical equipment planning, environmental graphics, MEP, sustainable design and construction administration. VA has begun feasibility studies in Orlando, but a project timetable has not been finalized.
A principal from each firm serves on the joint venture management committee. The Ellerbe Becket representative is Paul Zugates, AIA, CSI; and the RLF representative is Ron Lowry, AIA.
Founded in 1935 by James Gamble Rogers, II, FAIA; RLF is the oldest practicing firm of Architects, Engineers and Interior Designers between Jacksonville and Miami. RLF is a nationally recognized A/E/I firm serving the Central Florida Region and the International Community as the architect of record for more than 300 healthcare projects, 80 educational projects and 500 military projects. More than 90 percent of RLF’s work is with repeat clients. RLF team members place emphasis on innovative, practical and enduring solutions; designing with care to create noteworthy environments.
An innovator since its founding in 1909, Ellerbe Becket is a leader in architecture, engineering and the construction industry with office locations worldwide. The firm has completed new facilities and renovations for hundreds of hospitals, academic medical centers and medical group practice clinics around the world, each reflecting the unique facility and business needs of the client. Ellerbe Becket’s VA experience dates to 1946.
Contact: news@ellerbebecket.com
