VA Durham Cancer Center

Apogee was tasked to create construction documents and specifications for a new 2-story 23,192 SF facility and renovate 1,058 SF of Building 1 to create a connector into the new building. Design also considered future growth for 2-story vertical expansion in Phase 2.

Exterior Architecture focused design on creating a subtle contrast to the existing buildings. The existing brick on Building 1 has a blend of colors. The façade for the Specialty Care building was designed as two colors of brick, a lighter field brick and a darker accent brick. The building envelope was designed to exceed the requirements of the North Carolina Energy Conservation Code 2012. Design also included a canopy at the entrance to provide covered vehicular drop-off for patients undergoing treatment.

With the goal of creating a more healing environment, the design team configured the space to allow natural sunlight, generous views of the outdoors, and interactive artwork. Finishes were selected with warm, soothing colors and textures.

Fire Protection Engineering provided design for the building to be fully sprinklered and include a standpipe system with one of the stairs housing a combination sprinkler-standpipe riser. Plumbing design replaced all existing water, sanitary, and medical gas piping along with the plumbing fixtures. A steam powered semi-instantaneous hot water generator with a small amount of storage, was designed for the Level 1 Mechanical Room to deliver hot water. HVAC system was designed to be 30% better than ASHRAE 90.1 and uses an air source, heat recovery variable refrigerant flow system that provided heating and cooling for the space. The building service will be served from a medium voltage feeder that will be supplied from a splice in the existing primary line, and require a new primary selector switch and a proposed 750 kVA transformer. Lighting design included LED fixtures and occupancy sensors. Communications design included nurse call/code blue, data, and video surveillance.