A team of construction firm Hensel Phelps, architecture company SmithGroup and architecture and design firm AVRP Studios has completed the $244m expansion of Sharp Chula Vista Medical Center in Chula Vista, California.

The new hospital tower will add 106 private patient rooms; six large operating rooms, including the South Bay’s only hybrid room designed to allowfor advanced surgical and imaging procedures in the same room; a panoramic rooftop café, among other services.

Sharp Chula Vista chief executive officer Pablo Velez said: “Our goal has always been to provide the people of the South Bay with the latest in proven medical technology along with compassionate experts who provide the excellence of care that defines Sharp Chula Vista Medical Center.

“The opening of the new tower is our way of continuing to ensure that world-class care will always be close to home for the entire community.”

The project, which is said to be the South Bay’s first new hospital in more than 40 years, is backed by funding through donations to Sharp HealthCare Foundation, bonds, cash reserves, and the Medi-Cal hospital fee programme.

Hensel Phelps vice-president and district manager Damian Buessing said: “The new hospital tower at Sharp Chula Vista is one of the safest hospitals in the world.

“Embracing Sharp HealthCare’s high-reliability standards, our construction design strategies provided the safest and cleanest environment where Sharp Chula Vista employees can work, where physicians can practice medicine, and patients can receive care.”

The Sharp Chula Vista's new tower also features a redesigned main entrance and lobby as well as additional space for support services, including pharmacy and kitchen.

SmithGroup San Diego and Los Angeles offices director Bonnie Khang-Keating said: “Our design was inspired by the new tower’s location, perched high on a hillside overlooking San Diego and the Pacific beyond.

“The Ocean View Tower at Sharp Chula Vista exemplifies its community in an accessible, transparent design that evokes a feeling of refuge and healing.”

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Illustration of the new hospital tower at Sharp Chula Vista Medical Center in the US. (Credit: Sharp HealthCare)