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Next Frontier of Prefabrication

With the use of parametric solutions, the design customization required for site adaptation on Kaiser Permanent’s ambulatory care office facility in Baldwin Park, California presented an opportunity to further reduce design times and speed to market.

Exploring a ‘portal’ into the future of outpatient construction + design

By Patricia Betzhold and Keith Fine, AIA

A convergence of technology, manufacturing, modular design, and prefabrication is rendering creative solutions that highlight the use of parametric software as the next frontier in rapid outpatient facility deployment.  And these advancements in construction fabrication can support healthcare organizations in providing high quality, affordable health care services. However, while modular design and prefabrication are strategies gaining momentum in the marketplace, they don’t always prove to be the magic solution healthcare providers envision.

The services in ambulatory care medical offices are generally unique to each facility; site configurations and parking requirements can vary, but it is in the adaption of standards to existing buildings that present the greatest variabilities that challenge prefabrication efficiencies.

To design, model, and prefabricate unique solutions is very costly. The effective deployment of prefabrication requires the design and construction team to be very sophisticated and willing to study a range of solutions to find opportunities for savings.

Read more via the online article at Medical Construction & Design

This article was published in the September/October 2021 Medical Construction & Design