A hospital designed with future growth in mind

UPMC West Shore – Phase II Expansion

adapt to the needs of its residents. Before the doors ever opened, careful thought was put into a phased growth plan, with anticipated strategies for expansion and structural capacity designed in for future overbuild.

After opening in 2014, West Shore rapidly met its growth projections and was soon at capacity. In 2018, our team began working with University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) to implement the next phase of construction. After several iterations, the design process landed on an addition that increased capacity in the emergency department (ED), radiology, and surgical services, created a new ten bed observation unit, and relocated and expanded the pharmacy. Located on a constrained site, the expansion had to be carefully calibrated and was implemented in multiple phases to maintain continuous operation of the ED and minimize disruption to a busy campus filled with acute and ambulatory facilities. To that end, the flow of the ED was temporarily flipped, and the main lobby subdivided to accommodate walk-in emergency cases while the eastern half of the site was demolished.

The new addition provides increased capacity for vital emergency and acute care services to serve the burgeoning suburban communities on the western shore of the Susquehanna River.