The St. Vincent Catheterization Lab project includes a state of the art catheterization Procedure Room and Control Room.  Though small in area, this project’s complexity is great.  They set an objective to have the finest, most sophisticated Cath Lab in the world – both in its equipment as well as its architecture.  Many first of its kind installations were designed as part of this project which involved the A&E team working closely with the end user and numerous vendors.

The objective of the project’s design is to unite a pleasant and soothing space with the high tech equipment required of the catheterization process in such a way that it becomes less intimidating. Since the majority of the space in the Procedure Room is congested with large equipment, the ceiling and flooring are the focus areas in the design – opportunities typically ignored in hospital architecture.

Extensive planning and modeling became essential in the design phase to confirm the ideal relationship between the Physician and Patient in the Cath Lab and the Technician in the Control Room.

Typically  the “Unistrut” support system is recessed into the ceiling.  In this project though, it is exposed and configured into a coffer-look ceiling.  This strong statement makes an immediate impression when entering the space and gives it an “order” not normally found.

The Control Room, is a small space with an abundance of equipment, switches and monitors, is very much like the cockpit of a plane.  This analogy served well as the basis of the design for an intimate space surrounded by technology.  A tight curving countertop and a curved “floating” wall plane enclose the technicians, placing the equipment in close proximity.  Special casework was designed to collect and organize all of the equipment.  A lot of attention was given to collecting the Control Room equipment into a cohesive form that would unify the typical chaos.