Rush Hospital - next to the Eisenhower Expressway in the Illinois Medical District
The unique 'X' shaped design was influenced by doctors and nurses, placing the nurse station in the center in order to provide sight lines to all four wings from one location. Designed by Ralph Johnson of Perkins+Will.
Ayas, that's a good shot!!! A massive structure to photograph and you did a splendid job of shooting it at night and using B&W!!! I do wonder about the efficiency of materials in folding the outer walls inward to form the "X". It seems next to a circle that a square is the most efficient building/container shape. Same outer walls and perimeter foundation could have supported more square-footage. More expense, naturally, for the added building materials for the added interior, roof, and floor but the square-footage costs would have been lower. Or, so it seems to me. But I'm no architect nor builder!
The size of medical facilities in larger cities always amazes me. Our little two-traffic-light town has a single-story hospital which has passed hands several times over the last couple of decades. It struggles to stay afloat. There are a couple of doctors offices across the highway from it and a couple of government medical/health offices beside it. We are fortunate to have it as there has been a few small towns near us who have closed their small hospitals down. The incredible sizes of the medical facilities in the large metro areas just boggle my mind. Montgomery, AL, to the north of us about 50 miles has three hospitals scattered around the city. Naturally there are clinics, doctors, etc., that fringe these areas. But, yet they are much smaller when compared to larger cities. The closest major medical area to us is on north about 150 miles in Birmingham, where UAB is located (University of Alabama at Birmingham). It is a teaching facility and that area is very large. Many times people seriously injured or sick patients are transported to UAB for more specialized care, thus several areas have medical air transport services. Lots of rural miles between medical facilities and some of those facilities are more of a place to stabilize a patient for transport.
Your subject building is larger than anything in the Montgomery area and certainly rivals some of the buildings in Birmingham. Great capture, love the inclusion of the name "RUSH", and the city skyline in the background is representative of the city that RUSH serves. That lone, nearby streetlight seems to bridge the emptiness between the hospital and the skyline...now how many times have I walked out late at night from hospital and be thankful for a streetlight!!! It looks like you like you got its best angle, too.
I thought and thought about what to shoot for this assignment, but I kept coming up empty. Thanks for shooting this, gave me lots to think about!!!
Wow thank you so much for your kind words Ed! I also really appreciate your thoughts and insight
I was hoping to find a tall parking structure nearby so I can get a bird's eye view. Fortunately there was this empty street over the highway where I was able to pop out of the moonroof and get the shot! Wanted to do color but B&W looked much better.
You bring up a good point about maximizing square footage, but I think they were going for operating efficiency. They thought of the quickest way for nurses and doctors to access patients. There are interesting articles regarding its design since I remember it was a big deal when it was built. Here's one with quotes from the architect himself:
It's easy to take for granted the hundreds of hospitals in and around a big city. Not to mention the clinics. This is a teaching hospital and a part of Rush University. It's in the Illinois Medical District where there are several other hospitals nearby. It's good to hear there are trauma centers for patient transfer, as this becomes a necessity for small towns. But that poses it's own problems, like lack of available rooms or sufficient time to transfer and provide care. My sister is a physician and has dealt with these issues numerous times.
I didn't even think about that streetlight and how it added to the image. Thanks for pointing that out too, I'll be sure to pay closer attention to these things in the future. I was looking forward to seeing what you would submit because I knew it'd be great. It's okay, I'm sure you'll have something awesome for the next one
