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Aerial photo taken in early 2003 of the Mark O. Hatfield Clinical Research Center with the building exterior virtually complete.
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The transformation of the Mark O. Hatfield Clinical Research Center (CRC) from construction project to ready-for-business status will occur in 2004 when the facility becomes home to new inpatient units, day hospitals and research labs. Together, the existing Warren Grant Magnuson and Hatfield centers will serve a dual-role—providing the environment that today’s clinical researchers need for advancing clinical science in a humane and healing patient care atmosphere.
2002 saw the construction of several construction milestones. By year’s end construction was more than 75 percent complete with the building exterior wall system mostly in place, the main mechanical and electrical systems completely installed and the building interior work about 35 percent complete. The CRC will have 242 inpatient beds, 86 day hospital stations and approximately 250,000 gross square feet of research laboratories and vivarium.
The new center will connect to the existing Warren Grant Magnuson Clinical Center. A hallmark of this original building is the proximity of patient care units to scientific labs. The CRC will maintain the tradition of rapidly moving biomedical findings from the laboratory into the mainstream of medical practice.
Design of the CRC reflects the parallel priorities of patient care and clinical research, accommodating the physical requirements of the latest medical technology while providing a friendly atmosphere and efficient environment for patients and clinical investigators. Four brick wings, paired around landscaped courtyards, will flank a glass-enclosed science court atrium that will serve as the core of the new complex. The three- and four-story wings sweeping across the front of the existing building will allow patients and scientists to take advantage of the views of NIH’s campus setting.
The primary design concepts feature:
Flexibility. Designs of the patient-care and laboratory wings are highly flexible with the ability to accommodate day-to-day changes within the given functional space. For example, it will be possible to change a normal acute care room into an isolation room, a single patient room into a double patient room and a normal patient room into a day hospital station.
Adaptability. The new facility’s design is highly adaptable and has the ability to accommodate basic changing functions within a single space. For example, a patient-care area could be converted into a research laboratory and vice-versa.
Healing Environment. The new design is intended to provide a warm, friendly and healing environment for patients.
Community. Design efforts have also concentrated on having the new building serve as a focal point for the NIH campus and providing opportunities for interaction among scientists and clinicians.
Ground was broken for the CRC by former Vice President Al Gore, former Senator Mark O. Hatfield and others in late 1997. The CRC is named in honor of Senator Hatfield of Oregon, who supported medical research throughout his career in Congress.
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