East Tennessee Children’s Hospital - Chiller Plant

Utility buildings for a large institutional clients such as hospitals are typically unremarkable structures designed to house the equipment necessary for campus operations.  But what would happen if these structures were conceived to elevate their role and reinforce a cohesive campus-wide design strategy?

With those goals in mind at East Tennessee Children’s Hospital, the architects have designed several utility buildings which leverage inexpensive, off-the-shelf perforated screening systems that create playful patterns & textures against a backdrop of humble CMU & metal panel.  In addition to fulfilling their primary purpose of screening unsightly mechanical systems, the screens become visually interesting campus landmarks, embellished with silhouettes of active children indicative of the Children’s Hospital brand, and located at prominent vehicular intersections, The largest and most significant of these structures is the Chiller Plant.

The Chiller Plant houses three new chillers that improve the hospital’s cooling capacity and efficiency. Space was set aside for a fourth future chiller, and the design allows for heavy machinery to be moved within the building — for maintenance and replacement — using a built-in monorail system.

The Chiller Plant site is located at the most prominent city intersection on campus and presented the greatest opportunity for impactful design and branding. The intricate interior maze of pipes, pumps, and equipment is celebrated and placed on display through street-level windows, allowing passersby to see the building’s inner workings.

The design precedent set by the Chiller Plant building is applied to the subordinate utility structures placed at various locations throughout the Hospital's campus.

Framework for Design Excellence