Q&A
Discussion on building height and space requirements for MSK's new facility
1:08:24
·
4 min
Council Member Julie Menin engages in a detailed Q&A session with MSK representatives about the proposed building's height and space requirements. The discussion covers the justification for the number of operating rooms, patient beds, and the overall building height.
- MSK explains their modeling process for determining space needs based on projected patient numbers
- The 594-foot height is a result of required medical spaces and mechanical needs, not starting with a height goal
- Exploration of possibilities to reduce lobby or mechanical floor heights, which MSK claims are already minimized
Julie Menin
1:08:24
I wanna talk a bit about the height because obviously I've been hearing from residents in the community who are concerned about the height.
1:08:32
Can you talk about and you precisely, why do you need the 28 operating rooms.
1:08:37
How did you derive the number 28 and the 206 beds?
1:08:41
If you can talk with specificity about how the very alarming rise in cancer rates.
1:08:46
And look, we are all obviously extremely concerned about that.
1:08:50
What is the correlation between the rise in rates and the specific number of operating rooms and beds that you are proposing?
Jeffrey Drebin
1:08:56
So we began this whole process with modeling what we would need to deliver care making some assumptions about whether length of stay goes up or down, how many patients need inpatient care versus outpatient care.
1:09:11
And we sort of created 3 bands sort of high utilization, a middle utilization, and a low utilization, both of patient beds and of surgical facilities and procedural spaces to take care of those numbers of patients.
1:09:29
So we started with how many patients are we going to need to care for?
1:09:33
What are we going to need to have?
1:09:34
To care for those patients?
1:09:36
And as I say, the building is not in the high zone.
1:09:39
The building was in the middle zone.
1:09:41
We're hoping that we're on the money with this estimate and we'll be able to deliver the care that we think is gonna be needed.
1:09:49
Really, what we fear is if the estimates are incorrect to the low side, will still face more patients coming to us for care than we can deliver.
1:10:00
But we think this is the best estimate.
1:10:02
It's a reasonable estimate.
1:10:04
And then within that, those calculations, we were able to fit it into the site.
Julie Menin
1:10:10
And how did you arrive at the height of 590 feet?
Jeffrey Drebin
1:10:15
Again, it was not a we didn't start with from the height.
1:10:17
We started with how many rooms do we need, and how many hours do we need, and and what are the new standards which have required much more mechanical space in a hospital building than in our current hospital building across the street, which is fifty years old.
1:10:33
And and that got us up.
1:10:35
And then we tried at every point to shave space, to compress rooms, I think Rob mentioned it, but we're at 2% above the absolute minimum for patient rooms.
1:10:46
We're not these are not luxury suites or or palatial by any means.
1:10:51
They're safe.
1:10:52
They'll be placed we can deliver the quality of care that we think no one else in the world can get, but they're they're not big.
1:10:58
And similarly, the operating rooms are not much above the minimums.
1:11:02
And so we sort of came to the number of patients, the number of treatment facilities, and the space.
1:11:08
And as I say, we're we're pleased we can fit it into the envelope that was previously part of the the of the processes.
1:11:17
If we could estimate for the higher band, we would we would do it we recognize there is no space for that.
Julie Menin
1:11:25
Is there any room to lower the lobby height or the mechanical height?
Jeffrey Drebin
1:11:30
We've we've tried to look at that at every point, and we really don't see any any places on it, Roger?
1:11:36
Or, yeah, or Rob, do you wanna comment?
Kevin C. Riley
1:11:40
Go ahead.
Paul Stanbridge
1:11:40
Sure.
1:11:42
So really, we we can't lower it.
1:11:44
A lot a lot of the height is tied to the bridge connection to memorial, which I said was an integral part of it.
1:11:51
Because memorial's an older building with different floor to floor heights, there's really a sweet spot where you can connect.
1:11:56
So even if you were to lower the lobby and it's it's not a palatial lobby right now, any mean But
Julie Menin
1:12:02
it does look to be double height.
1:12:04
Right.
1:12:05
It's a it's a portion of the lobby.
1:12:07
It looks No.
Paul Stanbridge
1:12:07
It's all single height.
Julie Menin
1:12:08
So all over the single height, there's no double height, even an exterior you have
Jeffrey Drebin
1:12:12
There is a there is an entry lobby which then goes to the which only goes up one floor, and then people, again, on a single floor, distribute to the elevators or to other places on that first floor.
Paul Stanbridge
1:12:25
That's right.
1:12:25
The lobby is at level 2.
1:12:27
People so we could give the space back to the public.
1:12:30
The level 1 is really just a way to get up to the lobby, one floor up.
1:12:34
So it's all single there's no double height spaces.
Julie Menin
1:12:36
And on on the exterior where you're
Paul Stanbridge
1:12:38
Yeah.
1:12:39
Just for the drive through of the public space has has double height.
1:12:42
Yes.
1:12:42
Because, you know, wanted to give the public a a grand space.
1:12:46
But but the bridge connection sets it's a fixed datum.
1:12:49
So even if you change the height of the floors below the bridge, you're really just you're not lowering the building, you're just giving that space
Roger McClean
1:12:55
to
Jeffrey Drebin
1:12:55
one of the other floors.
Julie Menin
1:12:59
Okay.