A New Model of Care for the Community

Following a national selection, KAI was selected as part of a three-member collaborative team to provide MEPFP Engineering for Indiana University’s Adult Academic Health Center (AAHC), a new 1.9 million SF hospital campus located in the heart of downtown Indianapolis. The new $2 billion campus consolidates IU Health’s operations currently at two separate downtown locations, eliminating costly duplication of high-acuity services while providing the latest advancements in technology and patient-centered care. Three patient towers provide a full-service Adult Health Care Hospital providing inpatient and observation beds, full-service outpatient center, surgery, radiology, wound care, emergency department and cancer center. It also serves as Indiana University’s premier teaching hospital.

The first seven floors consist of hospital program space, with mechanical and pharmacy space on the sixth and seventh floors. Floors eight through 16 are three bed towers with approximately 32 rooms per floor per tower for a total of 864 patient rooms. Patient rooms are a mix of ICU, Med Surge, PCUs, Bone Marrow Transplant, and Behavioral Health. Several of the ICU and Med Surge rooms are capable of being converted to either use. Two helicopter landing pads are located on the roof with direct access to the emergency department via express elevators. Roof mounted equipment is limited to such items as exhaust fans, equipment vents and plumbing vents.

Take a tour of the 9th floor.

KAI’s scope of work includes multiple aspects of the various MEP systems: building power, mechanical and plumbing systems for the different areas, medical gas system, specialty exhaust, heating water, piping design between the central utility plant (CUP) and secondary heating water plants, high pressure steam (125 psi) piping design between the CUP, and pressure reducing stations located on plaza level and sixth floor.

The project relies heavily on the use of BIM for coordination between all disciplines during design in order to provide a coordinated layout between all disciplines to reduce change orders, RFIs and conflicts in the field. This level of effort provides the client with a set of biddable documents for a competitive price. At the end of the project, IU Health will be provided with a fully updated BIM model that gives a 3-D perspective of the Hospital and a detailed understanding of how the hospital operates and where utilities are routed. The new hospital is designed for efficiency and sustainability and is pursuing LEED Silver certification.

Watch a flythrough of the Mechanical room. 

KAI’s on-site engineering presence at the project proves to be a major advantage for the client and the overall project team. Being physically present, KAI is able to quickly address direct questions, reduce delays caused by back-and-forth communication and help reach timely resolutions. This accessibility fosters open, frequent communication—an essential asset when working with a client who is refining their vision. It also streamlines collaboration within a large, integrated team of three engineering firms and three architectural firms, which helps to align goals, clarify design intent and keep the project moving forward efficiently.