Meeting the Health Needs of Tomorrow

The New Hospital

Design consultant Herzog & de Meuron and architect of record HDR have designed the new hospital to address the social, psychological, spiritual and behavioral components of health by putting them together in one place. Integrating seamlessly into its surroundings, the new hospital will bring nature, human-centered design and innovative medical care into one healing habitat.

The new hospital is the centerpiece of a revitalized Parnassus Heights campus. Image by Herzog & de Meuron

A Hospital for the Future

The new hospital will be architecturally outstanding, energy-efficient, seismically sound and environmentally sustainable. To help make this vision a reality, UCSF has selected internationally renowned designer Herzog & de Meuron and architect HDR.

The facility will offer:

Integrated Technology

Advanced integrated technologies that create opportunities for personalized services—wayfinding, entertainment, information—and allow patients to take control of their own health and wellness.

Natural Beauty

Panoramic views, sunlight, and natural surroundings, and a supportive workplace with optimal resources for clinicians and staff in surroundings that promote their physical and emotional health.

Holistic Care

A holistic healing experience that begins before check-in and extends throughout the stay, discharge sequence, and continued recovery. It will be a place that transforms patients, their families, and support systems into active participants in their healing process.

Privacy and Community

Rooms designed for privacy and infection control, and calming communal spaces that foster stronger, supportive relationships between providers, patients and families.

Increased Capacity to Meet Demand

UCSF Health’s new hospital will help us serve the needs of patients – from the Bay Area and beyond. With a target completion of 2030, final distribution of beds is still in planning, but the additional space will allow us to better serve more patients.

682 Total Beds, 324 New Beds

Building with a medical cross symbol on it

70 Emergency Department Bays

7 Ambulance Bays

Strong Academic Medicine

What distinguishes UCSF at Parnassus Heights is the connection between a leading academic medical center with world-renowned research that provides a fertile training ground for clinicians and scientists. Our academic-backed care in neurosurgery, neurology, cardiac surgery, vascular surgery, diabetes, cancer and nephrology is considered among the best in the country. For more than the last 20 years, UCSF Medical Center has been ranked among the top 10 hospitals nationwide by U.S. News & World Report.

State-of-the-Art Facilities for State-of-the-Art Care

The science of health care has advanced dramatically over the decades, and today’s cutting-edge research and care delivery require specialized facilities. The researchers, care providers, faculty and learners at UCSF Parnassus Heights have made numerous innovative contributions to medicine over the years, but the limitations of our current infrastructure threaten to limit progress.

Many of the campus’ buildings need to be updated. UCSF Moffitt Hospital was constructed in 1955; it will be seismically retrofit by 2030 to meet California’s seismic standards to allow for some inpatient care. To further address the physical spaces requirements of 21st-century health care and help meet capacity needs, a new, state-of-the-art hospital at UCSF Helen Diller Medical Center at Parnassus Heights will be built on the site currently occupied by the Langley Porter Psychiatric Institute. The new hospital has already received generous support from donors and is targeted to open in 2030.

Keeping Pace with the Needs of Patients

In 1976, the University of California Board of Regents implemented a square footage ceiling for future development on the Parnassus Heights campus. Today, the space required for the increasing complex care capacity needs of San Francisco and the Bay Area, together with research and laboratory space co-located with UCSF’s adult care hospital, is constrained by limitations set almost half a century ago.

Nearly 3,000 patients this year will be turned away from the hospital at Parnassus Heights because our current facility is often at capacity — a challenge that will likely increase with the Bay Area’s projected growing and aging population. On a daily basis, space issues require more than five patients, on average, to spend the night in the Emergency Department while they wait for a hospital bed. And about four times a week, the hospital goes on “high capacity alert” because there are too many patients in the Emergency Department, not enough critical care beds, or not enough acute care beds.

A doctor consults with a patient in a hospital room — Nina Shah, MD, hematologist, meets with patient Wallace George at the Hematology and Blood Marrow and Transplant Clinic at UCSF’s Parnassus Heights campus.

In order to fulfill our public mission as the only health-focused academic medical center and campus within the University of California system, the UC Regents approved an amendment to the square footage ceiling, while staying within our current physical footprint.

Whenever San Francisco Needs Us

The new hospital at UCSF Helen Diller Medical Center at Parnassus Heights will enable us to serve the growing health care needs of San Francisco and beyond for decades to come. Here are some of its many features:

Bench to Bedside

The new hospital creates a physical space to realize “bench to bedside”— the process of translating laboratory discovery into patient care, a concept that distinguishes UCSF by having clinical and research care side-by-side at the same campus location.

Collaborative Research

Link clinical researchers and scientists who are pioneering important fields, such as immunotherapy and stem cells, to accelerate discoveries into treatments for conditions ranging from diabetes to neurological diseases to organ failure.

Emergency and Specialty Care

Maintain and expand patient access to specialty and emergency care on the city's west side.

Demand for UCSF Care

Accommodate increasing demand for UCSF’s complex health services due to a growing and aging population, new treatment opportunities and a focus on higher acuity cases.

Top-Tier Education

Create a training ground to teach the next generation of clinicians and scientists in a patient-centered environment that promotes compassion and respect, incorporating the latest technologies and methods, while upholding the highest standards of patient safety.

Competitive Excellence

Entice the best clinicians and scientists, as well as staff, students and trainees.

Seismic Safety

Comply with state seismic regulations for acute care hospitals with the new hospital expected to open its doors to patients by 2030.

Welcoming Environment

Create an environment that welcomes community members and serves as a place where neighbors will come to enjoy programs and services, such as concerts, fitness facilities, eateries and “science on display.”

A 10-Year Project

The new hospital is a long-term project that is expected to be completed by 2030.

2018-2019

Visioning of the new hospital with community input.

2019-2020

Master planning and programming with community input.

2020-2022

Design phase of new hospital with community input.

2022-2023

Demolition of the Langley Porter Psychiatric Hospital and Clinics.

2023-2028

Construction of the new hospital.

2028-2029

Testing, pre-occupancy, and final planning of the new hospital.

2030

Grand opening of the new hospital at UCSF Helen Diller Medical Center at Parnassus Heights.

Executing the Vision

Creating a hospital for the future requires strong partners. HDR, the Architect of Record, and Herzog & de Meuron, Lead Designer, will be working with UCSF throughout the process. The lead donor, the Helen Diller Foundation and Prometheus Real Estate Group., Inc, are also involved. The following designers and builders, many of which are based locally, will complete the next phase of work:

Electrical Trade Contractor

Rosendin

General Contractor

Herrero Boldt Webcor

Landscape Architect

James Corner Field Operations

Mechanical, Electrical and Plumbing Engineers of Record

Mazzetti and Arup

Mechanical and Plumbing Trade
Contractor

Southland

Structural Engineers of Record

Nabih Youssef & Associates (New Hospital)
Degenkolb (Moffitt and Long Hospitals)

Transforming Health

Our reimagined Parnassus Heights campus will continue to combine world-class research and teaching with a new, state-of-the-art hospital to offer both hope and treatment to patients most in need. The below are examples of the kind of care UCSF provides.

The Spinal Surgery Getting Patients Back on Their Feet Faster

Angie Jacobson raises her arms above her head while she stands in the water of the bay, ready to dive in

A Brain Tumor Patient Celebrates Survival

Cheryl feeds her partner sushi using a pair of chopsticks while both smile

Discovering a Seizure-Free Life with Help from 3-D ‘Heat Map’ Technology

Rashetta Higgins high fives her youngest son outside of the school bus

Catching His Breath

Rebooting Kimberly’s Brain

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Get in touch

For more information about the New Hospital at Parnassus Heights, contact:

Ellie Rossiter
Executive Director for Community Relations & Strategic Partnerships
UCSF Office of Community & Government Relations
ellie.rossiter@ucsf.edu

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The New Hospital

Vision