RTKL celebrates major construction milestone at Chicago’s Presence Center for Advanced Care

RTKL, the global architecture and urban design practice, recently celebrated structure completion of the new Presence Center for Advanced Care facility, located on the campus of Presence Saint Joseph Hospital in Chicago.

During the Jan. 8 topping out ceremony, the final structural beam was lifted into place atop the 380,000-SF ambulatory care center during a blowing snowstorm. Upon completion, the center will include three floors of medical offices, three floors of parking and three floors of ambulatory care including a 23,000-SF comprehensive cancer center. To create a new healthcare experience, the Presence Center for Advanced Care was designed to provide the community with easy access to outpatient services and a dedicated focus on delivering coordinated care by consolidating specialists. Designed by RTKL, the center, which is targeting LEED Gold, is scheduled to open its doors to patients in September 2015.

“Presence Center for Advanced Care embodies a new way of defining and providing a sustainable solution for delivering comfort and convenience in the heart of an urban environment,” said RTKL Vice President Sandy Faurot, AIA, ACHA. “We are excited to celebrate this significant milestone with our partners at Presence Health and look forward to the opening of a premier, one-stop destination health and wellness center in this vibrant Chicago neighborhood.”

RTKL led the administration and department leaders through a series of goal-setting sessions to build consensus around the idea of creating a comprehensive, patient-focused and centrally-located center that focused on delivering the highest level of care in a single destination. The Cancer Center will house radiation therapy, medical oncology, and complementary therapies. To allow for maximum long-term flexibility, the radiation oncology vaults will be constructed of modular shielding blocks.

“The Presence Center for Advanced Care was designed to foster multi-disciplinary, collaborative care in order to enhance outcomes and the patient experience,” said Roberta Luskin-Hawk, president and CEO of Presence Saint Francis Hospital. “Attention to our patients’ mind, body and spirit is an important attribute of the experience as is convenient, seamless, high quality care enabled by smart technology, modern design, superb clinicians and exceptional staff.”

This facility will allow Saint Joseph Hospital to increase access to patients, expand new service lines and attract more top-tier physicians, ensuring a lasting impact on the community.

In partnership with RTKL, Hammes Company served as project developer. Power Construction Company provided a full scope of construction services. The project remains on-budget and on-schedule.