Pavilion, University of Pennsylvania

The Pavilion for the University of Pennsylvania Health System is a state-of-the-art inpatient facility designed by the PennFIRST integrated project delivery team (IPD) with Foster + Partners, HDR, engineers BR+A, and LF Driscoll, Balfour Beatty and Penn Medicine. The Pavilion serves as a new institutional and architectural icon for Penn Medicine on its extensive academic medical campus in West Philadelphia at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. Co-located with some of the world’s most advanced research laboratories and specialized treatment facilities, the building enables collaboration and research centered on patient focused care, serving as a blueprint for the ‘hospital of the future’.

The uncertainties experienced throughout the COVID-19 pandemic have emphasized the need to design a hospital that can adapt with rapidly changing science, medicine, and patient care. The Pavilion’s patient care floors were designed with a unique, flexible planning system that enables the 72-bed floors to be broken down into smaller unit sizes that respond to changing needs and patient demands. The 504 inpatient rooms are conversion-ready, with space and infrastructure capable of handling any level of acuity from medical-surgical to intensive care. An interactive footwall integrates entertainment, room controls, communications, and medical record information to better engage patients and families with clinicians and keep them informed throughout their stay. Floors are laid out in an “on-stage/off-stage” model that minimizes disruptions to patients and allows ample space for clinical teams to collaborate, research and provide the best patient care.