Engineering Fundamentals: An Introduction to Engineering, 4th ed.c

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A Case Study: Health Clinic

C IVIL ENGINEERING

DESIGN PROCESS

The Board of Directors of a health clinic recognized that in order to enhance its

health service to meet the increasing needs of their city and its surrounding com-

munities, they needed to expand the existing facilities adjacent to the hospital.

The health service expansion consisted of a physician office building and a clinic.

The physician office building (POB) was to attach to the existing hospital with

the clinic connecting to the POB. The structures were treated as separate proj-

ects with two different design teams worked on them. The focus of this case

study is the Clinic.

Step 1: Recognizing the Need

for a Building

As stated previously, the Board of Directors of the clinic recognized the need for

expansion to meet the increasing demand of health service in their city and its

surrounding communities. To better serve the people in these communities, the

Board of Directors decided to build a new clinic.

Step 2: Define the Usage of the Building

After the Board of Directors recognized that there was a need for expansion to

meet the increasing heath services demand, the Board had to define in detail the

types of building usage. Parameters such as number of examination rooms, recep-

tion areas, laboratory facilities such as X-ray, MRI rooms, staff rooms, meeting

rooms, and managerial and maintenance facilities were considered. Anticipated

number of patients, visitors, and staff was also included during this decision

making process. The Board also considered future expansions; future expansion

potentials, regardless how far in the future they may occur, could impact the

planning and design of the current structure.

Step 3: Project Planning

The owner also needed to identify possible building sites. The selection criteria for

the site are usually based on economical, zoning, environmental, and other fac-

tors. In the case of the clinic, the proximity of the hospital and the future physi-

cian office building were the major factors that led to the building site.

Since the clinic was a privately funded structure, the owner could have

selected an architect or contractor to initiate the design phase, or requested bids

from architects or contractors to lead the project.

Step 4: Schematic Design Phase

During this phase of the design process, the architect designer met with the

staff of the clinic to learn more about how the new clinic was to be used. The

architect designer and the contractor also learned about the estimated budget.

For the clinic, additional coordination with the architect of the physician office

building was warranted since both building shared some columns and

foundations.

The clinic was designed as a steel frame structure. The primary supporting

components of the building are made of structural steel. The bricks, masonry,

wood, etc. are to provide closure and esthetics to the building. When the archi-

tect designer prepared the schematic design, usually with multiple alternatives,

Source: Karen Chou

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