Parkland Hospital Expansion

Parkland Hospital, located in Dallas, Texas, is best known for being the location President John F. Kennedy was rushed to after being shot on November 22, 1963. In addition to its place in American history books, Parkland is also recognized as one of the nation’s leading teaching hospitals with hundreds of people treated daily.

With updates in industry standards, overcrowding, and aging of the current facility, the owners sought to meet the needs of the medical environment today. This vision set into motion a $1.3 billion project for a new facility double the size of the original hospital.

The new structure contains a 62-foot cantilever with a 120-foot span over an opening. Both support seven stories that house expanded patient rooms.

The project team was faced with challenges to control deflection and vibration while providing a constructible, cost-effective solution for the owners.

For this reason, numerous structural systems were investigated. Designs and cost estimates were built for steel, a hybrid of concrete and steel, as well as a post-tensioned concrete solution.

The best and most cost-effective solution was a two-story, post-tensioned concrete transfer girder system to support the seven-story cast-in-place concrete structures, allowing for significant deflection control.

The transfer girder, located between the 10th and 12th floors, required a five-story shoring tower sitting on the fifth floor to support the weight of the girder during construction. Through staged stressing, the team was able to control the elevation and deflection of each floor. Twenty million pounds of post-tensioning force was applied to the main girders.

STRUCTURAL TECHNOLOGIES / VSL assisted with post-tensioning zone design, integrated shop drawings and supply of bonded multistrand post-tensioning systems. Approximately 140,000 pounds of post-tensioning cables were used, with 35 miles of post-tensioning strand in the ducts.

The new and improved facility was completed in five years. Today, the hospital continues treating everyday patients and victims of trauma.