Why do the Hospitals need to increase in height?
The new Stanford Hospital is proposed to be a series of pavilions rising to a maximum height of 130 feet and connected by courtyards. Packard Children’s expansion is proposed to be five stories at 85 feet. Modern hospital planning and design seeks to shrink the distances traveled from procedure room to patient room to better accommodate the needs of a patient. This is best accomplished by arranging differing uses vertically. Heavier procedural equipment is located on the lowest floors with immediate vertical access to the intensive care units serving the most critically ill patients. Upper floors house rooms for general medical and surgical patients after they have been evaluated and treated. In addition to better patient care, a vertical hospital design provides more efficient use of land.
