Future-Ready Growth: How Mayo Clinic’s East Expansion Redefines Patient Care
Engineering a Better World One Project at a Time
Mayo Clinic has long been recognized for its unwavering dedication to premier healthcare. As the demand for advanced patient care grows in the rapidly expanding U.S. Southwest, Mayo Clinic has nearly doubled the size of its Phoenix, Arizona campus through its Arizona Forward project. This expansion is the most extensive and complex capital development in the organization’s esteemed history, reflecting its commitment to public health and wellness.
Mayo Clinic is renowned as one of the nation's top medical schools for research, spanning three world-class university campuses.
This project featured substantial vertical and horizontal expansions, earning high praise in the 2023 Engineering News-Record (ENR) Best Projects award program. Mayo Clinic’s East Expansion was celebrated for its visionary design and highly collaborative project delivery, earning the following accolades:
Future-Ready Design Increases Patient Care Capacity & Enhances Medical Services
The expansion features a forward-thinking design that boosts patient care capacity and positions Mayo Clinic for evolving healthcare solutions—an essential focus that AEI prioritized in its engineering systems design. This transformative project includes four key components:
- A three-story vertical expansion with provisions for eight additional floors.
- Three additional operating rooms.
- A new cafeteria to elevate visitor experience.
- Horizontal expansions at the loading dock to improve delivery and distribution logistics.
Approaching 225,000 square feet, the three-story vertical expansion significantly modernizes the clinic and the fourth-floor mechanical penthouse while augmenting various departments, including transplant, neurosciences, pulmonary, and regenerative medicine. The design integrates new floor plates that allow for future vertical growth, ensuring that Mayo Clinic can adapt to changing healthcare demands.
The horizontal expansion includes a 19,500-square-foot upgrade to the east cafeteria’s kitchen and servery. Strategically relocating the loading dock improved logistical efficiency, supporting compactor and linen services. Notably, the expansion also increased various emergency department capacities, particularly surgery, by introducing three state-of-the-art operating rooms (ORs) and planning for three additional ORs in response to anticipated needs. The design also adds 20 new post-anesthesia care units to accommodate patient recovery.
- 20
- additional PACUs
An Integrated Project Delivery for Continuous Care
To ensure continuous patient care on an active campus, the project team employed an Integrated Project Delivery method, fostering collaboration to overcome obstacles while prioritizing safety and efficiency. A unitized curtain wall system was pivotal in addressing vertical expansion challenges, allowing the project team to prefabricate large sections, streamline installation, reduce disturbances, safeguard sterile environments, and accelerate the construction timeline. This enabled timely delivery of Mayo Clinic’s enhanced patient care.
A new exam room featuring circadian lighting that promotes patient and staff well-being and productivity.
AEI delivered comprehensive mechanical, electrical, and piping/plumbing (MEP) engineering design services for vertical expansion, encompassing new additions from the fourth to the seventh floors. This significant vertical development necessitated that AEI upgrade numerous MEP systems to meet high-rise code standards, ensuring Mayo Clinic could maintain the high efficiency essential for its operations.
Additionally, AEI’s Building Performance Practice conducted an in-depth analysis of nearly 100 façade modules to optimize cooling efficiency and maximize natural daylight. A key design goal was to enhance panoramic views, with AEI supporting this through careful glazing selection and comprehensive comfort, daylighting, and energy efficiency assessments. AEI also explored a variety of insulation, connection, and framing options, ultimately improving wall insulation and achieving $130,000 in upfront construction cost savings.
- $130,000
- construction cost savings
The clinic's exterior showcasing the folded façade to optimize solar shading.
Preparing the Hospital for Continued Growth & Evolving Healthcare Needs
Mayo Clinic’s East Expansion marks a new era of healthcare excellence, with AEI’s engineering expertise playing a critical role in meeting the demands of Phoenix’s growing community while maintaining the organization’s global reputation as one of the world’s safest and most advanced hospitals.
Partnering with visionary clients like Mayo Clinic and collaborating closely with project partners, AEI brings an innovative, solution-focused approach to complex challenges, enabling impactful advancements in healthcare. With its future-focused design, Mayo Clinic is empowered to continue delivering world-class patient care, confidently entrusting AEI with engineering expertise to make it possible. Explore how AEI brings client missions to life with engineering solutions that tackle their most challenging obstacles.