Children’s Mercy Research Institute, Kansas

The Children’s Research Institute will be a nine-storey structure covering an area of 375,000ft². Image courtesy of Children’s Mercy Hospital.

The windows of the research institute will feature the genetic anomalies found in children with rare diseases. Image courtesy of Children’s Mercy Hospital.

The facility will feature an auditorium with a capacity to seat 400. Image courtesy of Children’s Mercy Hospital.

Separate wet and dry laboratory space will be available at the new research institute. Image courtesy of Children’s Mercy Hospital.

Children’s Mercy Hospital is constructing a new paediatric research institute at its Adele Hall Campus in Kansas City, Missouri, US.

With an estimated investment of $200m, the facility will support the hospital in carrying out precise diagnosis and treatments for complex childhood diseases. It will also provide quality care and treatment for some of the most difficult medical cases.

The institute will increase the total area of the present facilities, providing six times more space for carrying out research.

The new facility is expected to have more than 3,000 employees.

Details of the paediatric research institute

The new research institute facility will be a nine-storey building with a total floor space of 375,000ft², including 3,000 linear feet of bench space for carrying out research. It will contain both wet and dry laboratory space.

Chemicals, drugs and biological materials will be tested at the wet laboratories, while the dry-labs will house big data for new discoveries.

The facility will also feature an auditorium with a capacity to accommodate more than 400 people.

Design of the new research institute

The building will be transparent from all sides, encased in 132,937ft² of glass and 5,514 glass panels. The total area of glass being used for the institute is equivalent to that of two football fields.

The windows will be coloured and depict representations of genetic anomalies found in the DNA of children with specific rare diseases. They will also feature new genetic sequences being discovered at the Children’s Mercy research institute.

Further, the tower will feature publicly accessible interior and exterior spaces, as well as 472 doors.

Research activities at the children’s research institute

The existing research institute of Children’s Mercy Hospital includes a number of researchers and physicians working under the same roof. The researchers use some of the latest medical technologies to find solutions to some of the most challenging questions in paediatric medicine.

The hospital is currently carrying out research in the areas of nephrology, heart care, cancer and other subspecialties.

Financing

The Hall Family Foundation and the Sunderland Foundation are donating $150m towards the construction of the research institute.

Children’s Mercy Hospital also received $125.6m in fixed-revenue bonds for the development of the research tower project and a previously completed office building.

Contractors involved

The new research facility was designed by BSA LifeStructures. McCownGordon Construction was appointed as the general contractor for the project.

Marketing commentary on Children’s Mercy Hospital

Founded in 1987, Children’s Mercy is one of the top paediatric medical centres in the US. It has a number of non-profit hospitals and speciality clinics in Missouri and Kansas, which provide treatment and care for children from birth through the age of 21.

The hospital has been awarded the Magnet nursing designation four times in a row for its high-quality care. It employs more than 700 paediatric experts and researchers involved in clinical care, paediatric research and training of paediatric specialists.