Riverview Health Westfield Hospital

A Highly Visible, High Performance Healthcare Facility

CMTA has been working with Riverview Health for over 20 years. Riverview’s goal of being the Healthcare leader in the region presented an opportunity to extend their services to Westfield, Indiana, a growing city just 15 miles north of Noblesville. When CMTA was requested to design the Westfield Hospital, they were ready for the challenge. CMTA has been designing high performance hospitals throughout the United States for years and looked forward to continuing the success.

Project At A Glance

Size: 106,960 SF
Cost: $35,000,000
Completed: 2018
EUI: 97 kBtu/sf yr
ENERGY STAR - Perfect Score of 100

Awards

AIA Healthcare Design - 2019
Indy Chamber's Monumental Award - 2019
Indianapolis Chamber Monumental Achievement Award - 2019

Architect

American Structurepoint Inc.

The Challenges

Provide a highly visible facility with building aesthetics which incorporates the Riverview Branding and is visible from several major viewpoints
Use of wall system with substantial glass without major impact on energy performance
Maximizing the adaptability of the program spaces, minimizing mechanical spaces while maintaining sustainable strategies
Functional programming changes which required several floor plan changes which occurred after construction started

CMTA provided great energy modeling data to ensure the financial performance of the geothermal system. Now that the system has been in operation for a year, its energy use is extremely low and we are realizing the predicted return on the investment.

Scott Tripp

Operations Director - Riverview Health

The Solutions

The architect was tasked to design a full-service facility which included 20 private patient rooms, a combined urgent care emergency department and state-of-the-art surgery rooms. The upper floors of the facility include the outpatient services. This design was required to meet the owner's sustainability goals, while maintaining brand consistency.

ASI designed an extremely energy efficient thermal envelope. It included Low E glazing that matched the Riverview “blue”. The Terra cotta wall system included R-12 exterior insulation, a full air barrier along with interior insulation consisting of R-24 wool insulation and spray foam. The roof system’s thermal value was R-30.

Furthermore, the architect, engineer, and owner also worked extensively to maximize the adaptability of the facility and maintain Riverview branding. Space planning was constrained by the budget at a maximum of 107,000 SF for the owner’s program along with the required electrical and mechanical spaces. The use of heat pump units allowed smaller mechanical rooms to be located throughout the building. The geothermal well field also reduced mechanical space needs, because a boiler plant was not required.

A major first for Riverview hospital was the use of a large-scale geothermal system which includes 130 geothermal vertical bores. Individually zoned heat pump units provide the majority of the air conditioning for the building. The use of heat pump chillers and heat recovery chillers was also a first for Riverview.

Riverview Hospital has a philosophy of including systems with capacity for expansion along with integrated redundancy. However, our energy goals precluded over sizing the systems. One important decision was the heat pump unit design which utilizes high performance fans due to the requirement for final filters. The two leading manufacturers were Trane, which utilizes direct drive fans, and Hydrotemp, which utilizes belt drive fans. Due to maintenance concerns with belts, the desire was direct drive fans. However, Hydrotemp utilizes Automated Logic Controls which would interface directly with the hospital’s control system.

After much belt research, it was decided to use Hydrotemp. One of the favorable comments that the hospital engineer receives is how quiet the heat pump units are when operating. During a recent ISHE tour, it was noted that the units were quieter than a refrigerator and occupants can have normal conversation in the air handling rooms.

Visibility

The location of the Westfield Hospital was very important. The site chosen was at the intersection of two major highways, of which one is elevated. During design, the team used 3D modeling to visually view this hospital. The original design was based on a 4-story concept, but the 3D model clearly indicated that the hospital would have low visibility. To make the building much more visual, the building was changed to a 6-story building with an additional large mechanical penthouse integrated into the exterior design.

Invisibility

Since the hospital has a great presence and visibility, a project goal was not to see mechanical equipment. To accomplish this, all mechanical equipment is located in the penthouse and mechanical rooms throughout the facility. The exhaust systems are indoor type located in mechanical spaces with louvers to the exterior. Add in that the geothermal system eliminated the cooling tower and the MEP systems for this facility are practically invisible.

The Results

The outstanding energy results of Westfield Hospital match its beauty. Comparing the ENERGY STAR hospital portfolio manager to a median hospital, this facility utilizes almost half the energy. This facility energy costs are around $2 per square foot while the average median facility would use almost $4 per square foot. Westfield Hospital has been requested by the American Society of Healthcare Engineers to discuss the methodology used to have a hospital performing with an EUI of less than 100.

Baseline vs. Actual - Riverview Health

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