在三月份的一个星期五晚上，即19日期的大流行中，戴维·特洛里安（David Trolian）看到了美国陆军工程兵团提出的独特要求。第二天下午对RFP的反应。一旦获得授予，团队将需要在现场并在24小时内工作。

Trolian, division president and CEO of Clark Construction Group in Chicago, applied in partnership with Chicago design firm Perkins & Will. They’d use a design-build methodology, led by the contractor. The proposal emphasized the team’s readiness and skill.

By that Sunday, the Clark/Perkins & Will design-build team was awarded the $14.9-million job. On Monday, they were on site trying to transform a 500,000-sq-ft existing building, a closed hospital, into an alternate care facility.

“那是一个非常忙碌的周末，”弗洛里安说。

该项目是将伊利诺伊州蓝岛的关闭大都会医疗中心变成一个替代护理机构，如果地区医院不知所措，COVID-19患者可以接受医疗服务。该设施需要在26天内准备好治疗患者。

In the wake of the pandemic, a number of alternate care facilities were built for the Federal Emergency Management Agency by the USACE across the country. In Illinois, McCormick Place received the most news coverage, but three other facilities were constructed—MetroSouth, as well as the former Sherman Center Street Campus in Elgin, Ill., and Westlake Hospital in Melrose Park, Ill. These projects are similar to disaster relief work, Trolian said. The work—like the response period—needs to be swift, exact and transparent.

在大都会项目的第一天，珀金斯＆Will的项目经理兼合伙人艾米莉·贝特曼（Emily Bateman）在现场看到约100人。她说。贝特曼说，克拉克团队很快就建立了协议和筛选，这使该项目感到安全。人们戴着口罩，作为一个团队合作，并努力建立潜在的挽救生命设施的共同目标。

贝特曼说：“这种项目的潜在影响使这种恐惧超过了。”“这就是为什么我们进行医疗保健。我们想有所作为。”

团队聚集在一起后，Trolian说该项目分为三个阶段：评估，设计和建设。而且，有了这样一个短的窗口来完成项目，前两个阶段需要快速移动。

Clark/Perkins＆Will团队评估了该建筑物，研究了该设施已经拥有的功能和所需的功能。Trolian说，该医院拥有29个必不可少的建筑系统，例如HVAC和机械系统，需要重新激活，并且评估医院的很大一部分都花在看了可以固定的系统以及需要更换哪些系统的情况下。Trolian还评估了他们可以在哪里添加负空气单位和高敏锐的患者室，这些区域可以使患有COVID-19的患者在不让病毒逃脱的情况下保持患者。

Perkins & Will immediately began design. The project converted nonpatient rooms into treatment rooms, creating 585 beds for patients, 265 of which could be used as ICU beds. This far surpassed the RFP, Trolian said, which asked for 35 beds total—and they could have added more, he said, if not for the tight schedule.

Bateman said that the design phase took an extraordinary level of cooperation between Clark, Perkins & Will, the Army Corps of Engineers and MEP engineer Salas O’Brien. The team also included specialty contractors Hill Mechanical, Titan Electric, RG Construction and Consolidated Flooring and was in constant communication with medical professionals who answered questions, Trolian said, guiding the team on what medical services could be built to bring the most value to patients.

After the first two phases of the project, which took less than a week, the team moved into a three-week construction period. Bateman said that the entire team—all working long hours, some on call 24 hours, others working 12- to 14-hour shifts—were able to get a good night’s sleep once the intense first two phases were done.

Construction, the last phase, went so smoothly that the team finished the entire project after 22 days, four days early.

“我们显然将此作为任务，”弗洛里安说。“实际上，我们将团队构建为不同的小队，以攻击该项目的各个组成部分。我们没有专注于当时世界中发生的事情的负面方面。

“I’d say in my 26-year career, this felt like the most important project,” Trolian said.

贝特曼（Bateman）同意，他说她从未与如此紧密的团队一起从事一个项目，不仅是在珀金斯（Perkins＆Will）的同事中，而且在整个团队中。在他们将钥匙移交给设施的那一天，贝特曼说整个团队都很激动。

“I think those are bonds that will last our careers,” Bateman said. “It’s a once in a lifetime kind of experience and really mind boggling to think back to how much was accomplished in such a short amount of time. I don’t know that we’ll see projects like this again.”

Bateman said that although a lot of the resources from the McCormick Place facility have been shifted to MetroSouth, the facility still has not been used. The health care system in Illinois has yet to be overwhelmed by the pandemic.

“I remember doing a cheer on the last day of that project and saying, ‘It’s amazing that this was able to be accomplished. Here’s hoping it’s never, ever used,’” Bateman said. “We still hope that, but it’s really important that, as a region, we have options in place.”

在撰写本文时，伊利诺伊州的Covid-19案件再次增加。尽管医院系统没有任何不知所措的危险，但如果需要，Metrosouth设施仍准备就绪。