Huntington Hospital in Pasadena, Calif., will complete an emergency department expansion project over the next three years and use high-tech software to do it.
The $80 million expansion will cover 80,000 square feet and be four stories high. Tower General Contractors of Sun Valley, Calif., will manage the construction project.
Nato Flores, president of Tower, said the firm would build the Huntington Hospital addition using three-dimensional building modeling software called BIM, which stands for Building Imaging Modeling.
Flores said the technology has long been used in the aerospace industry to design and build aircraft, but the use of BIM in construction has proven to be an enormous asset, particularly in hospitals.
"BIM allows us to create a digital model of the structure before we even put a shovel in the ground," said Flores. "Using BIM will help us see and solve systems-integration problems before we start construction. This has the effect of eliminating potential change orders caused by conflicts, not only between the various trades but also within the design itself."
Flores added that the technology has the added benefit of saving time while solving problems that arise during construction.
Huntington Hospital is a 636-bed, not-for-profit community hospital, with the only trauma center in the region.