Henry Ford Health System Bloomfield Medical Office Building

Henry Ford Health System and Gensler teamed up to re-imagine efficiency in healthcare delivery.

Taking the environmentally responsible decision, they finished an existing building shell into a community medical center. Operationally, the center has flexible clinic space based on shared resources that result in space efficiencies not possible under the old model. A major challenge for the building shell reuse was having a parking deck located above exam and procedure rooms, totaling about one-third of the facility’s total footprint. Airborne and structure-borne sound transmission from vehicles driving above would transmit into the medical rooms if standard construction were used. The resulting distraction and annoyance could cause patient dissatisfaction and increased staff stress.

To minimize the sound transmission and facilitate building services routing and connections under the high bay area above the medical offices, a free-standing structure was used to decouple the office walls and ceiling from the parking structure. High Ceiling Attenuation Class (CAC) ceiling panels were also recommended for blocking sound. The result was vehicle drive-by sound peaks just under the ambient sound level in the medical rooms, allowing the vehicle driving sounds to go unnoticed.

Analysis and recommendations for sound isolation between exam, treatment, procedure, and consultation rooms were made to protect patient privacy per HIPAA and the Facilities Guidelines Institute (FGI).