海角视频

Family Health Centers of San Diego Barrio Logan Clinic

San Diego, California, USA

海角视频 supported the development of a landmark new health facility for San Diego. Fifty years into its mission of caring for underserved populations, Family Health Centers of San Diego is expanding into preventive health with a facility unlike any of the 77 other care sites in its network.

The new Family Health Centers of San Diego Barrio Logan Clinic in the south San Diego neighborhood of Barrio Logan will take aim at the causes of illness with a design focused on nutrition, fitness, and research.

The Family Health Centers of San Diego Barrio Logan Clinic will include a wellness clinic, research and development facilities, and business offices. Located in the heart of San Diego, California, on the corner of National Ave and Cesar E. Chavez Parkway, the project will be split over two distinct blocks. One block includes 73,503 ft虏 of lab/office facilities, and the other will include 75,880 ft虏 of above-grade parking.

The new Family Health Centers of San Diego Barrio Logan Clinic will tackle the causes of illness with a design focused on enabling preventative medicine.

海角视频 is providing structural engineering, building services engineering (MEP), and sustainability consulting design services.

Achieving net zero energy was a balance between optimizing on-site renewable energy sources and minimizing the buildings predicted energy use intensity.

海角视频鈥檚 multidisciplinary services helped to further bring down the predicted EUI of the proposed design to 32 鈥� thereby reducing energy-use by 36鈥�46%.

Challenge

海角视频 is providing structural engineering, building services engineering (MEP), and consulting design services for the schematic design through to the construction administration phases.

The Family Health Centers of San Diego Barrio Logan Clinic project presented several key challenges that spanned across engineering disciplines. The client has ambitious sustainability aspirations, and was keen that building targets net-zero energy. Targeting net-zero energy was a key challenge, because non-diagnostic medical clinics require a significant amount of energy to support indoor-air-quality requirements, extended operating hours, and other specialized requirements.

Structural resilience was also a challenge due to the building鈥檚 location on a site with relatively weak soil in the highly seismic zone of San Diego. Compounding this challenge was the building鈥檚 irregular shape and its requirement for large column spans.

海角视频鈥檚 multidisciplinary, integrated approach allowed us to achieve cohesive and innovative solutions to these challenges.

Solution

The new complex will provide impressive new healthcare facilities for the district. The third and fourth floors of the main building will provide accommodation for the Family Health Centers of San Diego administration team. An OSHPD-3 clinic (as regulated by California鈥檚 Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development) will be provided on the first and second floors, along with the new research and development facility for biometric analysis. A parking garage for the facility and staff was to be located adjacent.

The facilities will be located in a highly sustainable, low carbon complex. Achieving net zero energy was a balance between optimizing on-site renewable energy sources and minimizing the buildings predicted energy use intensity (pEUI). Solar PV panels proved to be the most beneficial renewable energy option, so maximizing roof coverage was essential. This meant keeping MEP roof plant equipment to a minimum.

The aggressive 12.5ft floor-to-floor height targets also played a role in the mechanical system selection. Ultimately the project team decided a VRF system with dedicated outdoor air systems provided the most energy efficiency, while minimizing roof plant and mechanical distribution requirements. This allowed for the building鈥檚 predicted energy use intensity to drop to 32 kbtu/sf/yr and accommodate a 512 kW PV array. This proved more than enough to meet the net zero energy target.

The irregular building shape in a highly seismic zone led to significant torsional impacts on the seismic force resisting system. The proposed reinforced concrete flat slabs, shear walls, and columns required careful structural analysis and calculations to accommodate these design constraints. Geotechnical constraints also had to be considered. The ground conditions, with weak soil composition, were factored in to the design for the building鈥檚 large column spans, which required a mat slab to significantly spread the load across the soil.

Located on a long site, the four-story building uses its siting, massing and materiality to break down the perceived scale and fit into the residential neighborhood.

The team also optimized the structural systems to address multiple sustainability goals. The concrete structure minimizes floor-to-floor heights to reduce embodied carbon. Overhangs and sunshades control solar exposure, reducing heat gain and the building鈥檚 dependence on mechanical systems.

Value

The design dismantles the often-intimidating experience of visiting the doctor with warm, community-forward architecture. Daylight, natural ventilation, views and a pocket park provide biophilic connections for patients, while contributing to a net-zero design.

According to the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory鈥檚 Building Performance Database, the median energy use intensity (EUI) for non-diagnostic medical clinics in the San Diego area is 80, while that for an office building is 41. Based on the occupancies of the initial design, the baseline EUI for this building would be approximately 50-60.

海角视频鈥檚 multidisciplinary services helped to further bring down the predicted EUI of the proposed design to 32 鈥� thereby reducing energy-use by 36鈥�46%. This reduction will be key to achieving the goal of net-zero energy.