CASE STUDY | SAMSON PAVILION HEALTH PROVIDER With significant variation in seasonal temperatures and occupant density, the HVAC systems modelled at the Samson Pavilion in Cleveland, Ohio, USA, by Foster + Partners had to be highly flexible. This was borne out by its recent conversion into a Covid-19 surge hospital, as Phil Lattimore found out SYSTEM SPECS AHUs 13 x York medium-pressure, horizontal draw through, using supply and return fan arrays. Ranging in size from 5.19 to 25.39m3.s-1 DOAS units 4 x York custom draw-through with energy recovery wheel, medium-pressure with supply fan array. Ranging in size from 11.80 to 14.16m3.s-1 Chilled beams 848 x Price 0.9m (3 feet) or 1.2m (4 feet) long two-pipe beams, with air flowrates ranging from 0.007 to 0.097m3.s-1 Chillers 3 x 1.93MW (550 ton) York centrifugal water-cooled chillers with variable speed drives. Chilled water distribution is arranged in a variable primary pumping system Hot water boilers 3 x 3.5MW (12 million BTU per hour) Cleaver Brooks high efficiency, condensing hot water boilers Engineering and consulting firm Smith Seckman Reid (SSR) was Foster + Partners local collaborator through the early design stages and then engineer of record through construction administrations and site supervision. Led by Chad Miller, SSR delivered HVAC, electrical and plumbing engineering. T he building services for the vast courtyard at the Samson Pavilion in Cleveland, Ohio, is designed for an annual temperature swing of up to 42C, and a wide variety of occupancies from a few dozen people walking through the space to a 1,200-strong graduation ceremony. It was therefore designed for substantial flexibility, but its architect and environmental engineer Foster + Partners could not have foreseen its transformation into a Covid-19 surge hospital within a year of opening. In April 2020, the Samson Pavilion was temporarily converted to a surge hospital with the moniker Hope Hospital. The courtyard, named after past-president of Cleveland Clinic Delos M Cosgrove MD, provided 327 beds. The building was converted in less than a month and the HVAC systems flexibility and capacity meant they hardly needed altering with the refit concentrating primarily on fitting piped oxygen and UPS sockets. In the courtyard, the high-volume fresh air displacement ventilation, underfloor thermal systems and high daylight levels have come into their own, providing comfortable and safe treatment areas for any prospective patients. Part of the Health Education Campus in Ohio, the 44,315m2 Samson Pavilion building accommodates around 2,200 students from Case Western Reserve Universitys dental, nursing, and medical schools, in addition to those from Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine. Its most significant feature is the four-storey courtyard, which is open on all four sides to the two institutions medical schools and colleges. Designed as a large, social and academic space for faculty, staff and students, this 24m-high space has a wide variety of uses from informal meetings to graduation ceremonies. Its an important hub, its very adaptable and brings together the client philosophy for the building encapsulating a healthy, holistic, transparent ethos, says environmental engineer Emma Clifford, who is an associate partner at Foster + Partners and multidisciplinary lead on the project. As well as the atrium, other shared spaces in the building encourage collaboration across the health disciplines. These include a fully equipped conference centre on the first floor with a 650m2 auditorium with supporting spaces, designed to promote group learning, with recording and broadcast. Foster + Partners was engaged for the architectural and environmental design and MEP engineering. Smith Seckman Reid (SSR) was its local engineering collaborator through the early design stages and then engineer of record on the project. One of the challenges was the large seasonal variations in temperature in Cleveland, ranging from 35C in summer to -17C in winter. The severe winters meant renewable energy from PV or wind technology could not be used effectively to offset building 38 August 2020 www.cibsejournal.com CIBSE Aug 2020 p38-40 Cleveland clinic v2.indd 38 24/07/2020 16:00