The Emergency Department and Intensive Care Unit (EDICU) is the second phase of the SOM-designed master plan for the Cleveland Clinic campus in Weston, Florida. Following the 2014 completion of the Cleveland Clinic Florida Neurological and Cancer Institutes (NICI), also designed by SOM, the EDICU gathers two vital services into a single building to provide integrated urgent care across five stories of expanded patient treatment spaces on the growing campus.
Significantly expanding the emergency treatment capabilities of the existing campus, the 200,000-square-foot facility is home to the clinic’s intensive care unit and the emergency and acute care unit. The emergency department houses 46 treatment , fast-track, and resuscitation rooms, and 24 observation rooms, while the new bed tower adds 74 beds, with an expansion capacity of up to 26 additional beds. Designed to provide seamless care across medical specialties, the EDICU connects to all floors of the existing hospital facilities, and to the first two floors of the NICI, the Egil and Pauline Braathen Center.
The EDICU continues the design vocabulary established by the NICI building, while providing tailored, efficient, and comfortable spaces for patients and staff in the clinic’s emergency and intensive care units. Capitalizing on Florida’s abundant natural light and views while reducing energy use, the building is wrapped with horizontal precast fins that shade the exterior and minimize heat gain.
At the ground level, scalloped skylight windows bring daylight deep into the center’s core, introducing light into typically windowless interior spaces. A courtyard garden provides additional space for recovery and relaxation, enhancing the center’s interior observation rooms. Consistent with the Cleveland Clinic’s ongoing efforts to elevate the patient experience, the design utilizes an interior palette of frosted glass, birch millwork, neutral colors, as well as an integrated art program to create bright and airy spaces for patients, caregivers, and visitors alike.
