What's inside the Quonset hut?

In mid-October, a mysterious 120’ long by 72’ wide white Quonset hut appeared on the Southwest corner of the current hospital’s property.

We’ve heard a lot of theories about what’s inside the hut… ranging from a storage shed, to a greenhouse, to the set for the next Dexter sequel, to showrooms, to a laboratory. We can confirm that only one of those theories is somewhat accurate and it is showrooms.

Although, the Quonset hut isn’t exactly a traditional showroom as you would think, with brand new shiny pieces of medical equipment and an exact replica of the entire new hospital inside. But – it is constructed rooms with life-size replicas and mock-ups of key areas of the new hospital that we are showing to select groups.

Now you might be wondering, what’s the purpose of installing the Quonset hut? Well, it’s a key component of the ongoing design process and will remain in place until 100% of the design is complete.

Who is able to access the Quonset hut? Only select groups of physicians and health care staff are able to access the hut, which we refer to as “the users”. The users represent their areas of expertise and are selected or appointed to participate in the ongoing design process. The Quonset hut is not open to the public. We understand that you are curious to see what the design of the new hospital will look like. We can assure you that when we’re able to share more details about the design with the public, we will. Stay tuned!

How does the ongoing design process work? It’s broken down into four phases – the 30%, 60%, 95% and 100% design submissions. In September, we received and reviewed the 30% design submission from the Design-Builder. Prior to approving the submission, the Design-Builder delivered the first mock-up in a virtual format with 3D drawings of key areas to help the users visualize features of the rooms and provide relevant feedback. We are now progressing towards the 60% design submission.

On November 14 and 15, the users were guided through the hut for the second series of mock-ups to experience certain design features of each room. The users’ feedback will be incorporated in the 60% design submission.

This mock-up has fully constructed walls with 1:1 prints of elements of the room covering the walls and floors – such as millwork, services, furniture and equipment, IMIT device locations, and power and data receptacle locations.

The rooms included in the second mock-up are:

• Labour, delivery, recovery and post-partum room
• Nursing station
• Medication room
• Soiled utility room
• Exam room
• Emergency – Resuscitation/trauma room
• Emergency – Exam/treatment room
• Medical in-patient bedroom and washroom
• Typical patient room
• In-patient bariatric room
• Isolation room
• Anteroom

The next step in the ongoing design process is the Design-Builder submitting the 60% design submission with feedback from recent User Consultation Meetings and the second mock-up being incorporated. When the project team reviews the 60% design submission, the Design-Builder will begin working towards the 95% design submission.

During the next design phase (60-95%), a third mock-up will be constructed inside the Quonset hut which will build on details from the second and include actual materials and finishes.