Building for Impact: Children’s Hospitals
Communities
Throughout the decades, and in communities across the U.S., the many buildings Barton Malow has helped build have also been a source of enormous pride for team members. And the connection between each project and the community it’s in is an important reason team members consider Barton Malow such a special place to work.
With a culture based on people, projects, and communities, pride goes well beyond glass and steel to the true impact each project has on the community.
UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh: Community Impact in Living Color
Barton Malow has a long history of building hospitals, going back to the construction of a new wing of the Michigan Mutual Liability Co. Hospital in 1938. UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh is an exceptional example of how Barton Malow can impact the community in ways that extend beyond the structure.
Built between 2006 and 2009, this million-square-foot, 10-story hospital had already differentiated itself with its creative, colorful design, lending a cheerful, supportive, and healing environment for children and families in the community.
According to Barton Malow Project Executive Loren Luedeman, UPMC’s intention was to create an environment in which children and their parents felt comfortable.
“The whole place was to be a healing and cheerful environment … and it definitely succeeded,” he says.
With a butterfly wall, light fixtures that look like big flowers, and a “healing garden” in the sixth-floor atrium, UPMC was a Barton Malow project worthy of community pride.
For Loren, that community connection became even more personal when his youngest daughter experienced medical issues soon after birth and stayed for several weeks in the hospital’s neonatal intensive care unit.
“So there I am, a few years after building the place, utilizing it,” he says. “And it was wonderful, just the familiarity of building it … and then actually being in there in all the different areas.”
The hospital also helped revitalize the surrounding Lawrenceville neighborhood. The project lifted the whole area, bringing new vitality to home sales, businesses, and restaurants To Loren, just being a part of it, and knowing Barton Malow built it, was a “big, big deal.”
“I think it was in a time that was tough for everybody in the U.S., and to build in that area at that point in time, it was something that we were all proud to do.”
University of Michigan CS Mott Children’s Hospital: A Legacy of Community Care
Named for Charles Stewart Mott, co-founder of General Motors, the original CS Mott Children’s Hospital opened in the 1960s on the University of Michigan’s campus. In December 2011, Mott, along with the adjacent Von Voigtlander Women’s Hospital, moved into a new, state-of-the-art building that allowed for medical staff to continue offering world-class care to patients.
“It was over a million square feet,” says Barton Malow Vice President of Preconstruction Elizabeth Geiser, who worked as a Mechanical Estimator on the project. “So, definitely in that stage of my career, [it was] the biggest project I had worked on.”
Geiser says the design team tried to make what could be an unpleasant and serious environment look fun for kids and their families.
“There were trees and things that the kids could climb on, and bright colors to make it as fun as possible for a little kid who I’m sure is scared.”
The impact on the community was enormous, not just by providing comprehensive and innovative healthcare for children but also by providing expanded opportunities for the community.
“It’s been a huge benefit to the community and beyond,” says Elizabeth, “from patient care to staffing to providing more job opportunities for individuals.”
Today, CS Mott Children’s Hospital ranks among the nation’s best children’s hospitals in all 10 categories evaluated and is the only hospital in Michigan so ranked for over a decade. For Elizabeth, the project marked a high point in her 25-year career at Barton Malow as she lives the core mission of People, Projects, Communities.
Elizabeth knows the powerful community impact Barton Malow can have, not only as builders of local hospitals but with K-12 schools, too. For Elizabeth, these are the kinds of projects that impact people in ways “beyond anyone can fathom.”
