Contractors architects designers create new clinic for veterans

on Tuesday,August 10,2010 23:08

Architects are the people who are responsible for designing the construction of almost any structure, including houses, offices, churches and schools, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Their plans must ensure that structures are safe and strong, as well as aesthetically pleasing. Contractors often employ architects who then give their plans to construction crews.

In Oceanside, California, Smith Consulting Architects recently assisted the Rockefeller Development Group on an 84,000-square-foot outpatient clinic for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. San Diego-based Raymond Fox and Associates, a consulting medical architectural firm, provided interior design services.

The two-story building contains a back-up generator for emergency power and two magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) pads that accommodate on site mobile MRI units. The clinic also houses an emergency water supply and a sewage holding tank in the event of an emergency. The architects designed skylights on the second floor to provide natural daylight in the main corridors.

The new clinic is located in close proximity to the U.S. Marine Corps' Camp Pendleton, which allows easy access for veterans living in North San Diego County and injured service members who are returning from tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan.

In order to build a new structure, architects, project development managers, structural designers, civil and traffic engineers and landscape architects are often consulted.