Henry Ford Health Selects HDR to Lead Design Team for Transformative Detroit Hospital Campus Expansion
Henry Ford Health, one of the nation’s premier academic and integrated health systems, has selected HDR to lead the collaborative architectural engineering team in the design of its transformative one-million-square-foot-plus hospital campus expansion in Detroit. In total, three architectural engineering firms and three construction management firms will work together in unison to bring Henry Ford Health’s — and the community’s — groundbreaking visions to life.
“This was a rigorous and lengthy selection process, with team members from all corners and disciplines of our organization playing a role in ensuring we selected firms that could deliver exactly what our team, patients and community needs and deserves,” said Henry Ford Health President and CEO Bob Riney. “Our plans to meaningfully redesign and significantly expand our Detroit hospital campus stand to transform the delivery of healthcare as we know it, and our architectural and construction partners will help make that goal a reality.”
Collaborating with HDR are Boston-based Tsoi Kobus Design, an award-winning planning, architecture and interior design firm that has been leading the broader vision planning for more than a decade, and Hamilton Anderson, a Detroit-based African American-owned architecture and landscape architecture practice known for creating successful urban projects. For this project, the team composed of national construction management leaders Barton Malow and Turner Construction and local leader Dixon Construction Services is calling itself “BTD.”
“Over a hundred years ago Henry Ford established a place of healing focused on uplifting the community it would serve, the neighborhoods of Detroit,” said HDR U.S. Central Region Health Director Jim Thomson. “We are honoured and proud to bring our global health expertise to this incredible Henry Ford Health team to reinforce and enhance that vision as a destination for health, research and innovation. We are committed to designing a medical center to bring Henry's ideas forward for the people of Detroit and generations to come.”
Chris Bormann, HDR’s global director of professional services added: “It’s both a thrill and a privilege to work with the dedicated leaders at Henry Ford Health to envision and design the next 100 years of the Henry Ford Hospital. This is a complex, multi-year endeavour that will have an enormously positive impact on the neighbourhoods and communities of Detroit.”
“As an organization, we are deeply committed to being socially responsible through the partners we choose,” said Robin Damschroder, Executive Vice President, Chief Financial & Business Officer for Henry Ford Health. “To ensure those we partner with share our values, mission and dedication to promoting diversity, all vendor contracts for this project contain targets of 35% commitments from minority- and women-owned businesses, and we’ll also work with our selected partners to engage and include diverse subcontractors.”
Commitment to sustainability will also be at the core of any architectural and construction plans that come to fruition through these partnerships. Henry Ford Health aspires to be a leader in sustainability, and all design and construction decisions made will have our goal to be net zero emissions by 2040 in mind. The organization is excited to share more about its sustainable choices and designs as the projects develop.
In February, Henry Ford Health announced its plans to vastly expand and modernize its Detroit campus, including a brand-new hospital facility and patient tower. The hospital expansion plan is part of a broader development vision in the New Center neighborhood where the organization began more than a century ago. Henry Ford Health’s team, patients, neighbours, and the greater community’s needs are at the heart of this plan, and the organization will be engaging those important stakeholders every step of the way.
“From the partners we’re choosing to the conversations we’ll be having in the community, collaboration is a constant and important theme of this project,” Riney said. “We look forward to hearing from our community and neighbours as we design and build a hospital that will be a destination for those from down the road and across the globe alike.”
Construction is expected to begin on the hospital expansion project in 2024.
About HDR
For over a century, HDR has partnered with clients to shape communities and push the boundaries of what’s possible. Our expertise spans more than 11,000 employees in more than 200 locations around the world — and counting. Our engineering, architecture, environmental and construction services bring an impressive breadth of knowledge to every project. Our optimistic approach to finding innovative solutions defined our past and drives our future.
