The California Diversity Council Presents…

The Inaugural California Healthcare Diversity Summit was hosted by City of Hope. The theme for this year was, “Cultural Competence and Excellence in Healthcare in the Age of Personalized Medicine”.  Christine Hardin, LEEP AP, EDAC, and Greg Nelson, IIDA, EDAC, presented at one of the breakout sessions; the topic, “Designing for Patient & Guest Experience”.

Christine is shown presenting in front of a 1935 WPA Era mural, “Progress of Life”, painted in the fresco style by Phillip Goldstein and Reuben Kadish.

UC Irvine Medical Center – Executive Suite

In recent months, PDA had been hard at work on a newly completed project at UC Irvine Medical Center campus. The penthouse floor of the brand-new Bldg. 54 Lab Building consists of executive suites, boardroom and a conference center. The facility is designed to meet LEED Silver requirements and is outfitted with top quality finish materials such as poured epoxy terrazzo flooring, hand-troweled plaster walls and custom quarter-sawn American Walnut wood veneer paneling. One of the special features is a custom fiber optic “night sky” to recreate the constellations on the founding day of the UCI School of Medicine.

UC Davis Telemedicine Resource Center

Working under the architectural team at Lee, Burkhart, Liu, Inc., the construction of the new 50,000 sf UC Davis Telemedicine Resource Center is right on schedule to be completed Sprint 2012. Located adjacent to the completed School of Medicine Education Building, this new facility will be (self-certified) LEED Silver and will feature “smart” classrooms, mock exam rooms, a medical simulation suite, trainer stations, a production studio and associated administrative offices and support space. The facility will be outfitted with state-of-the-art technology for medical simulation teaching and community outreach to rural California communities.

Community Service

PDA recently completed a pro bono project for the Unitarian Universalist Community Church of Santa Monica. With three of our senior designers belonging to the congregation, we gladly donated our design services for the remodel of the community center and the classroom  and specified materials that satisfied LEED Gold standards such as linoleum flooring, Kirei panels and zero VOC paint among others.  Over 95% of the construction waste was diverted from the landfill which exceeded the Santa Monica Green Building Code of 65% diverted construction waste. In the end, the community can enjoy a beautifully remodeled space that is also environmentally sustainable.

Local Carpet Mill Tour

Christine and Linda recently participated in an IIDA-sponsored tour of Bentley Prince Street’s carpet mill – one of the few and the largest that exists locally in southern California. They witnessed first-hand tufting machines in action that create the carpets we specify as well as the on-site testing facility. Known for their sustainable products and processes in the industry, Bentley Prince Street’s mill also houses a spacious showroom and design studio.  Inside the design studio, our team members viewed upcoming new products currently in development. Also as part of the tour, they attended a seminar regarding carpeting and adhesives and their contribution to the LEED point certification process. All in all, it was a fascinating and very educational day thanks to Deborah and Tom!