Roswell Park Cancer Institute’s Clinical Sciences Center (CSC) is moving closer to construction. The 11-story building, designed by FxFOWLE Architects of New York City, will contain approximately 142,000 square-feet of clinical and medical office space. It will be built adjacent to the Roswell Park Main Hospital at the northwest corner of Carlton Street and Michigan Avenue in the burgeoning Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus.
The CSC will be physically connected and functionally integrated with the existing hospital and research complex. According to the project description, it was designed to complement the setting of the iconic Main Hospital building and at the same time; enhance the overall design quality of the site and the campus. The design of the façade was driven by the interrelated goals of screening the mechanical space on the Michigan Avenue side of the building and opening up the building to the community through the use of transparent glass, and terra cotta manufactured by Boston Valley Terra Cotta.
June 2011 design above. Revised design below.
The height of the proposed project–182 feet/11 stories tall–would be comparable to that of several existing buildings on the medical campus and vicinity, including Buffalo General Medical Center (177 feet), St. John’s Towers, and Roswell’s own Main Hospital (170 feet).
CSC will be home to new patient screening space, outpatient clinics, team diagnostic space and additional clinical administrative spaces. Completion of the Clinical Sciences Center will enable Roswell Park Cancer Institute to:
• Improve delivery of care and comfort to patients;
• Improve the quality and amount of space available for chemo infusion treatment;
• Address the needs of existing operations;
• Make modest increases in capacity and services;
• Remove ancillary and clinical administrative functions from critical space in the Main Hospital;
• Allow critical clinical services to expand into space in the Main Hospital vacated by the ancillary functions;
• Provide sufficient office and meeting space for physicians;
• Provide adequate space for patient education, survivorship programs, counseling and support functions in close proximity to the Main Hospital; and,
• Provide on-campus preventive services for the community.
Today, the Roswell campus spans 27 acres and includes 15 buildings with about 2 million square feet of space, as well as parking facilities and beautifully landscaped grounds. The existing Main Hospital building, completed in 1998, houses a comprehensive diagnostic and treatment center and has a licensed capacity of 133 beds.
In 2010, RPCI had nearly 31,000 patients under active care, nearly 5,000 hospital admissions, and almost 200,000 outpatient visits. Roswell Park Cancer Institute employs 270 physicians and senior scientists, approximately 600 nurses and nursing support staff, and has a total workforce of over 3,300 employees.
Roswell Park has raised $37 million toward the $40 million project cost. Anyone who wants to support the project can get more information at roswellpark.org/giving.