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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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