530
Cost Base: Description of Hospitals Studied
532.1.3
Memphis, Tennessee, VA Hospital
The Memphis field station is a thirteen-story building, with pipe basement
and two-story penthouse. There are ten tower floors, which contain
conventional wards, and one special floor for a spinal cord injury clinic.
Floor heights are 11'11" floor-to-floor. Bays are 21'8" x 21'8". The
structure is basically a waffle (two-way joist) system with typically 10" deep
joists and 3" slab. There is no topping slab as at Miami so that recesses
are formed by dropping joists and slabs as necessary. The factors which
appear to make this system somewhat more costly than the Miami system
are the large amount of form surface and the complications of changing
floor elevations. Further, the bay sizes are slightly larger.
A two-story group of psychiatric wards in the base of the building is of
similar construction to the tower, and the structure of the one-story
intensive care unit on the roof above the second floor supports only its
own roof and suspended ceiling.
532.1.4
Atlanta, Georgia, VA Hospitals
The Atlanta field station consists of nine floors of wards in a tower above a
base composed of two basements and two general floors, with a
mechanical floor separating the tower and base. The basic structure is a
frame of rolled steel shapes supporting metal decking with concrete infill.
Roof framing is similar to the floor framing. Fireproofing of the horizontal
steel members is of the sprayed variety; columns and peripheral beams
are fireproofed with poured concrete. Structural bay sizes are regular
throughout the building and vary from 20' x 24' to 24' x 32'.
This is the only steel frame building in the group investigated. Its relatively
high framing costs appears to result from the required fireproofing,
particularly the formed concrete around all columns and edge beams
(other members are sprayed) and its large bays, the largest in the group in
the group of hospitals studied.
532.1.5
Watsonville, California, Community Hospital
The Watsonville hospital, along with all of the remaining examples, utilizes
a flat concrete slab (plate). The bays are relatively large for this type of
construction; thickness of the slab is 10". This condition, plus the
extensive use of bearing shear walls instead of columns, has resulted in a
large quantity of concrete per floor with correspondingly high unit cost.
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