ST. LOUIS – Clayco, a national innovator in the design-build industry, broke ground on the nation’s first virtual care center in Chesterfield, Missouri. Mercy’s virtual care center will be a four-story, 120,000-square-foot facility that will house approximately 300 co-workers consisting of physicians, nurses, specialists, researchers and support staff. Forum Studio, Clayco's architectural subsidiary, is the designer. The project is expected to be completed in 2015.

Clayco met with Mercy to understand their goals for the care center and was given an ambitious request for an impactful landmark that was both practical and environmentally friendly, all within a strict budget. The Clayco team met the challenge by incorporating glass and studying the angles of the sun to help with energy efficiency. The end result will be LEED certification.

To protect the wooded area around the site, Clayco project managers worked with an arborist who conducted an extensive survey to determine which trees needed to be saved and which were safe to cut down. The goal is to make people feel like they are in a natural environment. With that in mind, the Clayco team studied a philosophy called biomimicry that draws a parallel between how nature develops and how man-made structures are created.

“Virtual care is a new endeavor for Mercy but the organization expressed a desire to be at the forefront of health care with a future-focus on how people will communicate with their doctors,” said Kirk Warden, executive vice president at Clayco. “We are thrilled to be a part of this developing sector of health care and to encourage Mercy as they continue to flourish and expand. The Mercy team has been wonderful to work with and we’ve enjoyed collaborating on such an exciting project.”

The facility will function as a hub for telehealth services including clinical areas, a data center, and research and development with infrastructure that goes beyond the typical office building. Stations will house multiple screens for providers to view charts, files and other types of information needed to work with patients.

Because this type of care is still relatively unheard of, the facility will be designed with guests in mind as well. Mercy anticipates visitors coming to learn more about the type of care they offer. Virtual care is particularly useful in reaching rural communities or individuals who have difficulty with mobility or making the trip into the doctor’s office.

Care will be delivered 24/7 via audio, video and data connections to locations across Mercy as well as outside of Mercy through partnerships with other health care providers and employers. Mercy estimates that the center will manage more than 3 million telehealth visits in the next five years and will also be a hub for advancing telemedicine through research and training.

ABOUT CLAYCO

Clayco is a full service, turnkey real estate development, architecture, engineering and construction firm that delivers clients around the world the highest quality solutions on time, on budget, and above and beyond expectations. With $912 million in revenue for 2013, Clayco specializes in the “art and science of building,” providing fast-track, efficient solutions globally for commercial, institutional, industrial and heavy civil infrastructure related building projects. For more information, visit www.claycorp.com.

ABOUT FORUM STUDIO

Forum Studio is a design firm that harnesses the power of integrated design and collaboration. Offering comprehensive solutions across multiple disciplines including architecture, interior design, landscape architecture, urban planning and engineering, Forum Studio builds important and complex environments for national and international clients. Forum Studio utilizes best practices while relentlessly pursuing new innovative thinking. Focused on the specialized needs of each client, the firm elevates design solutions to maximize value through responsive leadership, creative visioning and mission--critical expertise. Forum Studio is the art + science of building. For more information, visit www.forumstudio.com.

ABOUT MERCY

Mercy is the sixth largest Catholic health care system in the U.S. and serves millions annually. Mercy includes 32 acute care hospitals, four heart hospitals, two children’s hospitals, three rehab hospitals and one orthopedic hospital, 700 outpatient facilities, 40,000 co-workers and more than 2,100 Mercy Clinic physicians in Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri and Oklahoma. Mercy also has outreach ministries in Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas. For more about Mercy, visit www.mercy.net, and for more about virtual care, visit www.mercyvirtual.net.