CARL R. DARNALL ARMY MEDICAL CENTER FORT HOOD, TEXAS When the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers set out to replace the ex-isting hospital at Fort Hood, Tex., using precast concrete was a no-brainer. GATE Precast Company produced a brick-inlaid, archi-tectural precast concrete exterior wall system in its Hillsboro, Tex., facility for the new Carl R. Darnall Army Medical Center. The mam-moth project tops out at nearly 1 million ft 2 and uses nearly 1000 precast concrete insulated panels embedded with thin brick. The hospital first opened in 1965 and underwent an expansion in the mid-2000s; however, the project involved compromises that did not serve patients well, says architect John Bienko, prin-cipal and senior project manager in the Dallas office of HKS. “The Army required a brand-new facility with expanded services that would meet the Department of Defense [DOD] standards for care at the largest U.S. military base in the world,” Bienko says. Darnall serves approximately 45,000 active-duty personnel and nearly 125,000 military family members and retirees within a 40-mile radius. The new hospital, which is sited on 72 acres, in-cludes a six-story, 122-bed hospital tower; two two-story outpa-tient clinics; a three-story outpatient specialty clinic; an ambu-lance garage; a logistics building; a central utility plant; and three parking structures. PROJECT SPOTLIGHT Location: Fort Hood, Tex. Size: 944,000 ft 2 Cost: $534 million CARL R. DARNALL ARMY MEDICAL CENTER Owner: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Fort Worth, Tex. Architects: Joint venture of HKS, Dallas and Wingler & Sharp Architects & Planners, Wichita Falls, Tex. Contractor: Balfour Beatty | McCarthy Joint Venture, St. Louis Mo. Structural Engineer: Cagley & Associates, Rockville, Md. PCI-Certified Precast Concrete Producer: GATE Precast Company, Hillsboro, Tex. Precast Concrete Components: 911 pieces, including 9-in.thick insulated panels PRECAST PROTECTS LIFE, JUNE 2024 19
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