The San Francisco area is undergoing a flurry of healthcare building, according to an article on The Registry. Driving much of the activity is a state law requiring hospitals to upgrade or replace their buildings to be structurally sound enough to withstand earthquakes.

In addition to the structural safety changes, future building trends include a shift toward smaller “boutique” hospitals focused on a particular condition that are easier and faster to design and build.

Throughout the nine-county Bay Area, about $4 billion in hospital-related building projects valued at $50 million or more were in progress as of March, according to statistics from the California Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development, which oversees hospital construction.

Another $3.6 billion of hospital projects slated for the Bay Area are either undergoing state review or have been approved but haven’t started construction yet, the agency said.

“Rather than these big 400 and 600-bed hospitals, you’re looking at probably 60 to 80 bed hospitals,” said George Hurley, a project executive with DPR Construction, in the article. “There are quite a few healthcare providers considering that. Possibly those will be the wave of the future.”

Read the article.