The D. Dan and Betty Kahn Health Care Pavilion at University of Michigan Health, Ann Arbor, Michigan
Michigan Medicine, which encompasses the clinical, research and educational activities of the University of Michigan’s academic medical center, will welcome the new $920 million D. Dan and Betty Kahn Health Care Pavilion to its main medical campus in Ann Arbor, Mich., in the fall of 2025. The 264-bed facility will house a state-of-the-art neurosciences center, specialty services for cardiovascular and thoracic patients, 20 surgical suites and three interventional radiology suites.
The project will both expand highly complex inpatient capacity and improve the number of single private rooms on the main medical campus. The new private rooms have the capabilities of intensive care rooms, allowing them to be easily converted from acute care to intensive care as care needs evolve over time. The 12-story building has five floors with 48 patient rooms per floor and a separate 24 bed ICU designated critical care unit located between two surgical platforms. The top two floors (96 licensed beds) are designed to function as individual respiratory infectious containment units.
Changing the Michigan medicine landscape
The Kahn Pavilion is located on Michigan Medicine’s main medical campus, known as ‘the hill’ and is adjacent to the university’s Central Campus in Ann Arbor. A bridge and tunnel connect the pavilion to the adjacent Frankel Cardiovascular Center and the medical center for visitors, patients, and services.
The overall design of the project responds to the scale, massing, and materiality of the other medical center buildings. Precast concrete panels with a color range of Indiana limestone and nearly clear, highly energy efficient glass are the two primary exterior materials.
The interior color palette is coined “Michigan meets Michigan” and pairs natural Michigan colors — blue from the lakes, beiges from the sand beaches, green and dark walnut from the hardwood forests — and design features with the well-known maize and blue branding of the University of Michigan.
Sustainable design features
The pavilion is designed with a focus on environmental sustainability, which is a priority for the university and Michigan Medicine, as the institution implements strategies to move to carbon neutrality in the future. Every facet of the project is considered with use of materials, energy and water efficiencies as primary goals.
The sustainable strategies are expected to result in a 49 percent reduction in CO2 admissions, 19 percent natural gas savings, 71 percent total electricity savings, 6 million gallons of water savings, and an overall 20 percent overall energy reduction.
Additionally, material life-cycle analysis was conducted on the building’s structure, foundations, and envelope. Iterative modeling allowed the project team to review areas of opportunity to reduce embodied carbon both through design efficiency and the specification of lower embodied carbon concrete.
Selection of environmentally preferable materials was then verified through construction tracking with the installation of products with multiple raw material attributes and those with third-party verified environmental product declarations. Ultimately, the project was able to demonstrate a 15 percent reduction in global warming potential. The project, after preliminary review by USGBC, is on track to achieve LEED Platinum certification. If certified as platinum, it is believed that the Kahn Pavilion would be the largest such healthcare project with this designation in the country.
Project details for D. Dan and Betty Kahn Health Care Pavilion at University of Michigan Health
Facility name: D. Dan and Betty Kahn Health Care Pavilion at University of Michigan Health
Location: Ann Arbor, Mich.
Expected completion date: Spring 2025
Owner: University of Michigan Health, Michigan Medicine
Total building area: 690,000 sq. ft.
Total project cost: $920 million
Project Cost/sq. ft.: $1,300
Architect: HOK (architect), IDS (associate architect)
Interior designer: HOK
General contractor: Barton Malow
Engineers: HOK (structural), AEI (mechanical and electrical), Beckett & Raeder (civil)
