View of the Medical University of South Carolina Children's and Women's Pavillion from the street level.

MUSC Jenkins Children’s Hospital / Tourville Women’s Pavilion

Advanced features are standard in this state-of-the-art hospital that integrates children’s healthcare and obstetrical services

Project Facts

Location Charleston, South Carolina
Owner Medical University of South Carolina
Size 628,000 SF
Cost $250 million
Status Completed 2019
Capacity 11 floors, 200 beds

Overview

The Medical University of South Carolina has long been recognized as a leader in education, research, and patient care in the southeastern United States. As the previous facility began to age, administrators collaborated with physicians and patients to create a new state-of-the-art hospital that would integrate children’s healthcare and obstetrical services with advanced technological features.

A family waits inside a beautiful waiting room inside the Medical University of South Carolina Women and Children's Pavilion.

An exterior elevated balcony at the Medical University of South Carolina Women and Children's Pavilion.

A doctor consulting with a mother and her child inside the Medical University of South Carolina Women and Children's Pavilion imaging room.

A doctor consult with family inside the Medical University of South Carolina Women and Children's Pavilion patient room.

An outdoor elevated balcony and green space at the Medical University of South Carolina Women and Children's Pavilion.

A group of doctors in an elevated outdoor lobby at the Medical University of South Carolina Women and Children's Pavilion.

An elevated outdoor seating area a the Medical University of South Carolina Women and Children's Pavilion.

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About the project

The project boasts the largest neonatal intensive care unit in the state, a labor and delivery unit with mother/baby postpartum rooms, an advanced fetal care center, and an entire floor dedicated to specific health conditions such as cancer and heart complications.

We tackled several challenges early in the design phase including high wind speeds and frequent seismic activity. Our healthcare and seismic experts worked closely with the project architect to develop an innovative solution that combined a buckling-restrained braced frame (BRBF) and special moment frame into a single efficient system, one of the first such applications used on the east coast. This type of lateral load resisting system ensures safety during dangerous environmental events while maintaining open space for operational flow and future functional modifications.

A doctor walks by a beautiful atrium inside the Medical University of South Carolina Women and Children's Pavilion.

A beautiful lobby and waiting area inside the Medical University of South Carolina Women and Children's Pavilion.

A man and two kids looking out the window at the Medical University of South Carolina Women and Children's Pavilion.

A custom stained glass tree at the Medical University of South Carolina Women and Children's Pavilion.

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Cost-saving collaboration

Some of the project’s structural challenges threatened the ability of the project to fully achieve the owner’s goals unless cost savings could be realized elsewhere, leading to deep collaboration between all team members during regular collaboration meetings. One way we achieved cost savings was by creatively working with the steel fabricator and building envelope subcontractors to reduce project complexity and miscellaneous steel tonnage, resulting in a net savings of over $500,000. This savings was repurposed into directly addressing additional project challenges. Overall, these coordination meetings helped the team manage the budget and make timely decisions, allowing the project to stay within budget and on schedule.

The new hospital affords women and children the most advanced medical care experience available in South Carolina.