Medical University of South Carolina
Ashley River Tower
Charleston, South Carolina

The new 641,000 SF seven-story patient tower and a four-story diagnostic and treatment facility includes 156 patient beds, nine operating rooms, interventional cardiology rooms, angiography suite, diagnostic imaging, and a digestive disease clinic including an educational center and procedure suite. A large four-story atrium separates the patient tower from the D & T area. The facility also includes a one-story parking garage beneath the hospital at street level.

The project required design which would resist hurricane force winds, surge flooding, and seismic loading similar to that of the west coast and still remain operational after an event. Charleston is the only location in the 48 contiguous United States where all these conditions are present on one site. Further complicating the design the building site was a reclaimed marshland. The structural design received an Outstanding Achievement Award by ACEC Ohio and has been featured in many engineering journals including articles in Civil Engineering Magazine and Southeast Construction Magazine.