Foreword
This report consists of three parts, the major functional content of the material in each
part being so independent of one another that each part is referred to as "Volume".
Volume One, the Design Manual, is the primary product of the project. It is intended to
be a basic document for the VA and for A/E contractors working on system hospitals. It
is structured so that the Office of Construction may adopt it in whole or in part as a
Construction Standard, and subject it to regular review and revision. It describes the
Building System Prototype Design and suggests a general procedure by which the
Design may be utilized on a building project.
Volume Two, the Data Base, contains information on user needs, functional
requirements, costs of existing hospitals, labor unions, and laws and regulations. It is
intended to serve in conjunction with the Design Manual during application of the
system to a specific building project.
Volume Three, the Project Report, is the consultants account to the Veterans
Administration of the systems integration program. It provides a summary, conclusions,
recommendations, and various appendices such as the design rationale, example
designs, special procedures and the cost and time analysis.
An overview of the project may be obtained by reading Section 100, Basic Concepts, in
the Design Manual, and Section 600, Narrative, in the Project Report.
It will be noticed by the reader of the full report that a number of ideas are repeated in
several places. This is intended to allow a certain amount of independence among the
volumes, and to assure that significant points will not be missed by those reading only
limited portions of the text.
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