Top: Many of the precast concrete panels feature embedded thin brick that was cast into the panels at the plant. Left: With its riverfront location and proximity to existing hospital structures, the Delores Barr Weaver Pavilion had to accommodate a number of site challenges. Photos : GATE Precast. DELORES BARR WEAVER HEART AND VASCULAR PAVILION AT ST. VINCENT’S HOSPITAL Site Challenges and Budget Constraints Inform Design Completed in 2020, the Delores Barr Weaver Heart and Vascular Pavilion is a four-story, total–precast concrete structure featuring embedded Summitville thin brick. The lower level provides parking while the two middle levels provide space for patient care, including 30 medical and surgical rooms as well as 30 intensive care rooms. The fourth level, cur-rently the structure’s roof, accommodates mechanical systems, though it was designed to become office space in the future when the heart center needs more space. With its flexible design options, precast concrete provided for a future fourth-floor addition or even further vertical expansion. Herman says the hospital system chose total–precast concrete to address budget concerns. “Plus, it’s a very confined site, so pour-ing or doing a tilt-up would be problematic.” Additionally, on-site pouring would have extended the construction timeline due to wait times for curing. “And we were working right up against an existing, functioning hospital [building].” That meant noise was also a potential problem for patients and staff at the hospital. “Schedule is definitely an issue when it comes to on-site operations and impact,” Herman remarks. A total–pre-cast concrete solution meant St. Vincent’s Health could get the new pavilion erected quickly with minimal disruption to the exist-ing hospital site. JACKSONVILLE, FLA. /// By DeBorah r. huso When St. Vincent’s Health required a flexible and scalable structure for its new heart center at Ascension St. Vincent’s Riverside hospi-tal in Jacksonville, Fla., total–precast concrete offered an affordable solution for establishing a space that could be expanded for future growth if needed. The original hospital on the banks of the St. Johns River was built in 1914, and, according to Kristen Herman, construction project manager for Ascension Health, the hospital needed more space for heart patients and also wanted a space devoted exclusively to cardi-ovascular specialties. The hospital was in dire need of additional ICU rooms as well as a consolidated space for heart patients because the existing ICU space was insufficient for the number of cardiac patients St. Vincent’s was taking in. However, given the hospital’s location next to the river and poten-tial flood areas as well as the age of the original building, Herman acknowledges that “everything we do at Riverside is at tremendous cost.” St. Vincent’s Health needed to erect a new structure more af-fordably and quickly to minimize disruption to the adjacent existing hospital building. Total–precast concrete fit the bill.
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