Valley Care Medical Center in Pleasanton, California commissioned Timmons Design Engineers in association with ARUP and Ratcliff Architects to develop a planned and phased expansion of their existing hospital with a state-of-the-art patient care facility. The design incorporated a new central atrium that connected the existing building with the new wings and served as the new central point of access for the public.

The design encompassed two equal sized 60,000 sq. ft wings with a two-phase building plan. The first phase included the atrium and wing number one; the second phase was an expansion phase, to be implemented according to demand and growth factors. TDE/ARUP developed the HVAC design for the atrium and the Patient Care Wing. The engineering team utilized their expertise to meet the challenges of the atrium’s life safety issue by developing a simplistic smoke management system utilizing mechanical driven doors, roof mounted fans, and state-of-the-art fire control components. The patient care wing was served by a conventional combination VAV/CAV system to suit the needs of the mixed-use space of patient care, medical support areas, and administration. Work on phase one of this project was completed on July 2000.