A Word From the Architects
When the Major Hospital Board of Directors began searching for an architectural firm to design the new ReNovo Orthopaedic Center, they made it very clear that they wanted a state-of-the-art facility for patient healthcare delivery and a building that was as “green” and environmentally friendly as could be responsibly built.
Ratio Architects in Indianapolis was honored to be selected, and our LEEDS-certified professionals have delivered. From the active wind turbines generating electricity for ReNovo medical equipment to the exterior and interior green designs, patients and visitors will find that the ReNovo Center is one of the most “green”-advanced facilities in the region.
ReNovo was designed to minimize what Rausch described as “an institutional look and feel to foster the association between caring for the environment and caring for one’s health.”
David Rausch and Scott Hunt of Ratio Architects
Drawing on research that suggests how medical facilities can promote recovery and healing, a primary objective for the ReNovo design was to introduce natural daylight throughout the building, while carefully positioning windows to maximize patient privacy. In addition to controlling the quality of the light in the facility, daylight sensors help control lighting levels within ReNovo, providing balanced light with the daylight filtering from the strategically placed, energy efficient, windows.
The design for ReNovo also incorporates a number of energy saving features for an environmentally friendly facility operation. Its well insulated roof system and white membrane reflects sunlight to minimize load on air-conditioning units to conserve energy. The building itself is situated and designed to minimize and reduce excessive heat gain from the sun during the summer months. The Indiana limestone clad façade of the new building provides a natural buffer to the harsh western exposure, rejecting sunlight-generated heat and glare as well as naturally reducing the ambient noise from nearby I-74 traffic.
Given the often-windy conditions in Intelliplex Technology Park, the building’s northeast orientation is designed to serve as a natural break from the prevailing westerly weather patterns, to help provide a comfortable and welcoming approach for patients and families arriving at the entrance.
Capitalizing on the windswept portion of the undeveloped site, three electricity-generating wind spires were constructed In addition to serving as a visual symbol of environmental responsibility, the electricity generated by the spires is fed directly into the electrical grid serving ReNovo, which helps power the high-tech rehabilitation equipment located in the facility. The parking lots were designed and built with water-permeable surfaces, which reduce excessive stormwater runoff, and straining debris from rain water before allowing the surface water to enter surrounding soil directly. Downspouts on the building celebrate the stormwater management, directing snowmelt and rainwater into natural rain gardens that allow the surrounding soil to absorb excessive water without runoff or erosion damage.
The SportWorks rehabilitation facility, which includes basketball, sports and other industrial rehabilitation equipment, was designed with large open windows with a northern orientation, giving a feeling of expansiveness.
