We designed 245,000 square feet of lease space for Houston Methodist Hospital in a new 1.3 million-square-foot distribution center. The hospital consolidated its logistics operations from multiple sites to a single, cross-dock lease space that includes high-piled storage, secured IT storage, biomedical department repair shop, truck fleet shop, employee fitness center, off-site training rooms, and office space. The design team considered ways to reduce permanent impact to the base building, which included incorporating modified Conex shipping containers for warehouse floor offices and conference rooms so that they can be relocated to a new lease space when needed. Another non-permanent design feature was incorporating ceiling-mounted projectors that display drive aisle, directional, and wayfinding information on the floor in lieu of traditional painted pathway clearance and directional markers or stickers. Separate paths of travel for forklifts and pedestrians, flashing stop signs, and warning signs were projected at traffic and pedestrian intersection points.
