"The epicenter of the technology circulates around the OR," Lynch says. "Through the integration on this project, it will allow the anesthesiologist in their workroom to see the status of a room to see if the patient has been in, so they can better manage their time. Rather than paper outside the doors, LCD monitors will be outside rooms notifying the staff of the status of the room. It's all going to be digital and allows for better patient safety and staff utilization, and turnaround of staff. The new facility will allow for the new technology to grow into the future."

Expected to open in mid-2012, the 10-story building on 57th Street from Drexel to Cottage Grove Avenues will focus its services on cancer, gastrointestinal disease, neuroscience, advanced surgery, and high-technology medical imaging. Building designers Rafael Viñoly Architects are creating the adaptable space by implementing a grid system structure to the building. Each 100,000-sf floorplate is constituted of a series of 102 modular cubes, which can be reconfigured based on future space needs without altering the building frame.

"The building is going to be more intelligent and have the infrastructure that can support many more technologies that you can't have in an existing building today," says Peter O'Connor of RTKL, who is the principal-in-charge of the project's special systems design. "The physical layout of the building has been designed with these advances in technology in mind. The technology and the layout of the building's physical space go hand-in-hand." O'Connor and Lynch say as technology changes, the physical space needs for the procedures involved change as well. For example, they say, the less invasive the surgery and the smaller the incision, the bigger the room needed to make room for technology to assist in the procedure.