New Orleans East Hospital, New Orleans
Retrofit Team
ARCHITECT: Eskew+Dumez+Ripple, New Orleans, and Manning Architects, New Orleans
ASSOCIATE ARCHITECT: WHLC Architecture, Baton Rouge, La.
GENERAL CONTRACTOR: The LeMoine Co. LLC, Lafayette, La.
METAL PANEL INSTALLER: Crown Corr Inc., Gary, Ind.
Materials
The former Pendleton Memorial Methodist Hospital was devastated in the flooding brought on by Hurricane Katrina, leaving the residents of New Orleans East without a hospital since 2005. Designers replaced the existing concrete exterior surface of the 6-story, 133,640-square-foot East Tower with the Formawall Dimension Series insulated metal panel system and curtainwall glazing. Formawall Dimension Series features thermal and moisture protection in a single, panelized component, expediting installation time. With a factory foamed-in-place insulating core and thermal breaks between panel face and liner, the product meets stringent HVAC requirements in the health-care industry. In addition, architects chose Versawall insulated metal panels and EcoScreen perforated screenwall.
FORMAWALL DIMENSION SERIES, VERSAWALL AND ECOSCREEN MANUFACTURER: CENTRIA
The Retrofit
After years of planning, officials broke ground on the New Orleans East Hospital in January 2013. The $130 million project, which includes extensive renovation of the East Tower and construction of a new, 71,700-squarefoot Patient Care Pavilion, restores a full-service hospital to the area and stands as an important achievement for post-Katrina New Orleans.
To ensure the new building was hurricane-proof, the East Tower of the hospital was strengthened to withstand winds of more than
130 mph while primary electrical equipment and a new backup generator were elevated above base flood-elevation levels. Designers retrofitted the structural framing system and improved the roof to withstand the uplift forces associated with hurricane winds.
PHOTO: CENTRIA