By HFT Staff

DesignGroup has completed a 20,200-square-foot renovation for community healthcare provider Morris Hospital in Morris, Illinois, with a project cost of $13.2 million. 

The surgery department was renovated in two phases that resulted in three contemporary operating rooms, two advanced endoscopy rooms and a new procedure room. The designs are part of a master plan to modernize a patient-centric first floor. 

The hospital is now at the front edge of surgery design thanks to the project, which included a new structure for the operating rooms that facilitated one-way flow for patients and instruments, helping enhance infection prevention efforts. Everything that must take place in a surgery, from sterilization onward, happens in one direction in an optimized process that ensures the highest quality of care for patients. 

In addition, modular surgical ceilings feature prefab HVAC that fully integrates with anesthesia and equipment booms. The singular modular units, built off-site, helped speed up construction thanks to their streamlined connection points, enabling the hospital to get their operating rooms online again more quickly. 

DesignGroup’s Senior Interior Designer Sarah Eversman chose two- and three-millimeter rubber flooring to ensure healthcare staff have more support for long shifts on their feet and created a neutral color base so that the space could evolve gracefully over time. Accents in dark and light blues, and pops of color to facilitate wayfinding, were also part of the interior design. 

Much of the project, which kicked off in 2020, was undertaken during the pandemic and completed in early 2024. Support for the project came from Young Company, Korda/Nemeth Engineering, Narvick Brothers Construction, Introba and Stryker.