Neighbors and Community Members at October 22, 2008 Launch Event
By Cassandra Clark, Project Communications Director
On October 22, 2008, we invited the community—and particularly the neighbors—around Eden Medical Center to come to the hospital to learn about the new Sutter Medical Center Castro Valley project. We had representatives from the hospital, Devenney Group (the architectural team), Sutter Health, the social media team, and others available to meet our neighbors, hear their feedback and answer their questions. We’ll be posting video clips from the event in the next few days, so keep an eye on our Video Gallery and the featured video box in the right sidebar.
The good news was that the project was well-received, with high praise for the design and sensitivity to the community. We had great questions asked of us, and excellent comments for us to consider as we move ahead (regarding traffic patterns, noise abatement and other important concerns). While we had a very active and interested audience, we hope even more people in the community will join us at future events we plan to host in the coming year. Keep reading this blog, because we’ll announce upcoming community events here.
We realize that people are very busy, and going to the hospital isn’t something most people like to do even when they are healthy! So, we plan to take our presentation on the road, attending events and meetings to hear what folks have to say. We’ll post any future meeting dates and times in our News Room. And, of course, we will use this new blog site to reach a much wider audience, particularly those who live in our community who may not otherwise get involved.
There is a misperception that the people in Castro Valley, San Leandro, Hayward and beyond are not too familiar with social networks, blogs and all the new ways to communicate with each other over the Internet. I hope to change that perception by grabbing new readers and subscribers in our area and far beyond.
So, think of this site as our community meeting. Stay informed. Subscribe to this blog to get regular updates by email or RSS feed. Tell us what you think by commenting on individual posts. Together, we have a great opportunity to shape the future of our medical center.
By Andrew Flanigan, Senior Planner/Designer with Devenney Group
Hello, my name is Andrew Flanigan, Senior Planner/Designer with Devenney Group. We are the architectural firm commissioned to design the new Sutter Medical Center in Castro Valley. My role with the project is lead project designer, and right now I’m working with the team to help get the plans ready for approval by all authorities, from state to county to municipal regulatory boards, so we can begin construction. I wanted to first give you a glimpse of what the new medical center is going to look like.
The new replacement hospital will be an iconic building that reflects modern technology and the latest standards in healthcare. Because it will be built on the same hill as Eden Medical Center, the new hospital will be the focal point of the surrounding area. Through the design on which the project team had input, we reduced the scale of the building by integrating it with the hillside, and by creating a horizontal feel to the architecture.
The hospital bed tower, which will be seven stories high, will be the most prominent element of the campus. Through extensive shadow and massing studies, the current design reflects the most efficient form and orientation to minimize impacts on our surrounding neighbors.
Other design features were incorporated to enhance the site as well as screen back of house functions from the neighborhood, such as where trucks unload supplies. These outdoor features consist of a living wall, a fully landscaped visual and noise buffer, as well as outdoor gathering spaces.
The outdoor gardens will be available for patients, visitors, doctors, hospital staff and also the community. The latest sustainable landscaping techniques will be used throughout the campus. The main outdoor gathering space will be located on the lower level just outside the cafeteria, and allows for outdoor dining, rest and contemplation. The design also incorporates several more intimate outdoor spaces throughout the site.
The exterior of the building provides a light and airy feel with the use of natural and long lasting earth toned materials as well as different color glass to add vibrancy to the tower element. The high efficiency tinted glazing enables us to maximize windows in all patient rooms to enhance the healing environment.
The new medical office building, which will be four stories high, is designed to complement the new hospital in form and function. The hospital and medical office building are connected on four stories using open walkways so patients, physicians and staff can easily move between the two buildings.
Whether it is a routine clinic visit or a scheduled major surgery, the campus becomes a one-stop-shop for all medical needs; a healthcare destination for the community. Please see our Photo Gallery for more illustrations of the new medical center, plus we’ll be adding new ones, so keep visiting here. You may want to subscribe to this blog for regular updates.
I am very excited to be sharing this first glimpse of the building with you. Please don’t hesitate to contact me by leaving a comment here, with your questions or feedback, in our effort to make the design better!
By Randy DeValle, Landscape Architect for the new Sutter Medical Center Castro Valley
I guess you could say I am about as home grown a design team member as can be, having lived in Castro Valley since 1959. My family moved here when I just four years old. My mother still lives right up Stanton, just a little past Eden Medical Center. My name is Randy DeValle, and I am the Landscape Architect for the new hospital project.
I remember riding my Sting Ray bicycle, complete with banana seat, past Eden Medical Center every Saturday morning, as my buddies and I would scrounge for pop bottles. We would turn them in for money. Then, off to Foster Freeze for a frosty, and Value World to buy fishing lures.
I attended Stanton Elementary School, A.B. Morris Junior High (yes, I still see Mr. Kerr, our principal, about town) and graduated from Castro Valley High in 1972. I was a proud Spartan, ran for the best coach in Castro Valley High history, Norm Guest, and was a member of the inaugural high school soccer team. I remember Fifi’s Toy Store, Sakamoto Hill, and getting chased off of King’s Hill.
After graduating from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo with a degree in Landscape Architecture, I spent a few years working in landscape construction. Then in January 1986, I put out my shingle right here in Castro Valley. My wife and I raised our two children in this valley. They too, graduated from CVHS, as Trojans (I’ll never get over that name change, ugh! Hail, Spartans).
Eden Medical Center has been a part of my family’s lives over the years. I have spent countless hours waiting in the emergency room talking to the night guard or watching that tiny TV in the corner. My wife (then girlfriend) introduced her mother to my mother for the first time up on the fourth floor when I was a patient there.
Eden has been present for so many of my years it will be somewhat strange not seeing the ol’ girl up on the hill…but I can say with all conviction, the new hospital is going to be beautiful. Devenney Group, the project architecture firm, has designed a remarkable building.
I am just thrilled to be a member of the design team. As the project landscape architect, it will be my responsibility to work with the project civil engineer and architect. I will be selecting all the plant varieties and designing the unique outdoor spaces.
These spaces will include a garden, with shade trees, servicing the hospital café. But it will be more than an eating area. There will be space to sit, read a book, and carry on a conversation. We are also planning another garden area adjacent to the parking garage and new medical office building, which will serve as a demonstration and contemplation garden.
Besides being a place of respite and serenity, the garden will host myriad plant species for the home gardener. We hope to develop a demonstration garden, emphasizing California natives, where a person can come and view some lovely specimens. The garden will be complete with seating areas, a shade structure and pathways. Also on the menu are roof gardens, water features and plenty of other greenery.
This is a LEED project. I will not reiterate the subtleties of LEED, but in its basic sense, plants must be akin to our climate, we must use water judiciously and wisely, use recycled materials and quite frankly, just use good old fashion horse sense. It is my hope to open portions of the landscape, which traditionally have just been functional. As much as possible, I want the landscape to also be a learning experience.
I truly believe, when the ribbon is cut, we locals will be amazed at the aesthetics, the attention to detail and overall, we’ll marvel at the new Sutter Health hospital up on the hill.
Please let me know if you have any questions about the landscape architecture, and feel free to leave a comment in the comment box. We welcome your input!
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