From nearly any angle, the Western State Hospital's new forensic center merits superlatives — biggest, first, only. Even its history— built when the state of Washington was still a territory —deserves its own story.
But today, the construction of the state's nearly $1 billion project and, in terms of scale, the largest project undertaken by Washington, is the news making headlines.
Washington State Department of Social and Health Services photo
Groundbreaking on the $947 million project began a little more than a year ago, followed by the demolition of 11 buildings — including a turn-of-the-century morgue.
Clark Construction crews are now at work building the nine sectors of the campus that will include a 467,000-sq.-ft., 350-bed forensic behavioral health hospital for skilled psychiatric treatment, along with a 53,000-sq.-ft. administrative building.
"As a state, we haven't done anything this large before and as DSHS (Department of Social and Health Services), and so I would say that's been our sort of biggest challenge," said architect Kelly Lerner, senior project director of Western State Hospital construction finance, technology and analytics administration.
It also is being built under a GCCM — general contractor construction management — contract, which hasn't been used by DSHS previously. The GCCM allows the architect and contractor to collaborate and bid on specific aspects of the job at the best time in the construction process, Lerner said.
"There's usually some cost savings associated with that, and it lets the project go a lot faster, because you don't have to have the whole design fully baked before you're getting some of the subs in there."
The hospital is in Lakewood and serves people referred to DSHS by the court system because they are not competent to go forward with court proceedings. The hospital's role is to attempt to bring them back to "reasonable mental health," so that they could go forward in the court system, Lerner said.
Courtyard Design
Washington State Department of Social and Health Services photo
"It is a very innovative design. The whole hospital is built around courtyards, and at angles," Lerner said. "You've got great daylight throughout. You've got elevated walkways that connect the wards to areas that are called the downtown areas. The whole hospital is designed to support people's recovery back to mental health."
A key factor in creating the campus is biophilic design, that is, the focus on nature and the patients' ability to interact with the outdoors. It's also the most innovative part of the design, Lerner said.
Net-Zero Energy
It's also a net-zero energy facility, designed to produce as much energy as it uses and will feature both rooftop solar panel systems and ground mount systems, one each on the east and west sides of the campus.
"It is a fully electric hospital, so we're not using natural gas anywhere," Lerner said. "What we're trying to do is reduce all greenhouse gas emissions. This is part of Washington's larger mission towards reducing all of our greenhouse gases to mitigate climate change.
Washington State Department of Social and Health Services photo
"We're connected to Tacoma Power, and all of this energy will be going back into the grid. This is a larger-scale project of this type than Tacoma Power has ever had before. This project has a lot of firsts; this is the first zero net energy hospital of this scale in the world."
The hospital building itself is built on a concrete-structured, post-tension slab. The slab is poured in place and is embedded with steel cables sheathed in sleeves.
"They pour the slab and then, when the concrete reaches a certain strength, they put tension on the cables, and that means the slabs can be much thinner, so it is a much thinner, lighter structure," Lerner said.
The building will feature an aluminum veil-like façade, allowing people to see out but protecting the face of the building and the windows.
"It has a cool basket weave look to it that harkens back to the indigenous population that was all over Washington and along the coast and rivers before any Europeans colonized the area," Lerner said.
Cross-Laminated Timbers
The administration building is separate from the hospital and is built with cross-laminated timbers from trees taken down on the site and fabricated by a company in Oregon.
"Cross-laminated timber is a very sustainable way of building, and it uses smaller trees," Lerner said. "It is a fairly carbon sequestering approach. If you look at cross-laminated timbers, there's all kinds of reasons why it's more sustainable."
The project has had a huge impact on the construction industry and relies largely on contractors from the Pacific Northwest, Lerner said.
"This is a huge investment in our future. This is a state-of-the-art behavioral health facility that's really going to pay off for future generations. It is a huge-scale project; it's a huge investment, but it's a huge investment for the future of behavioral health in Washington." CEG
