Canterbury Court Health Services Campus

Atlanta, GA

Completion Date: 2023

Architect: Rule Joy Trammell + Rubio

Canterbury Court is a high-rise skilled nursing care, assisted living, and independent living health services campus that opened to residents in 2023. JSE’s scope of work for upgrading this facility included providing low-voltage and MEP services. Our team carefully considered the needs of an aging demographic and the latest health services standards, incorporating advanced design practices to implement customizable comfort through modern user control systems and progressive strategies for infectious disease mitigation. Every building has a full-service kitchen, dining halls for residents, medical offices, specialized bath fixtures, and bedpan washers. Certain rooms were also outfitted with emergency circuits and system redundancy to maintain patient welfare during an outage.

The design of this project began in 2019, which meant construction started during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. The scope of the project overall included the renovation of three existing health service buildings (A, B, & C) that were approximately 80 years old and the creation of two new buildings to expand the campus (D & E). The renovation process focused on creating more space for residents, including new infectious disease mitigation systems, and adding additional enrichment facilities including a greenhouse and indoor pool. A significant part of the process was the futureproofing of the buildings, with our team including provisions for possible solar panel installations through conduit and infrastructure placement.

In the new builds, our team updated the HVAC systems midway through the design process to better combat airborne viruses, which added to the complexity of the overall design process. The client’s budget, expectations, and safety standards were critical considerations throughout the design and construction phases, leading our team to hold multiple meetings and work diligently to meet their overall requirements and achieve the set expectations. Our team dedicated their efforts to ensuring a comfortable environment for elderly residents, meticulously designing the HVAC systems to ensure comfort in extreme weather conditions and airborne virus mitigation. Our team implemented an open-cell cooling tower system in the new Building E. The hydronics-style system provided better temperature control and energy efficiency. In its residential areas, Building E utilized bipolar ionization in its heat pumps, while the rest of the space of the building used MERV 13 filters. Building D was more standardized in its HVAC systems, utilizing bipolar ionization and split systems.

Electrically, the team outfitted both new buildings with 480-volt systems and additional generators for backup power. These generators use natural gas, which required specific approval from the fire marshal as part of the coordination process.  The generator for the healthcare facility has designated refuge areas where backup power will be utilized indefinitely during prolonged power outages.  Hospital-grade conductors were utilized in the healthcare facility. EV chargers were placed in the garages of both buildings for visitors, residents, and staff.

Building D’s plumbing systems consisted of “low-boy” residential water heaters, a standard for apartment design. Building E, however, had more specific plumbing design needs. Our team implemented a central plant hot water system that suits facilities with public hot water requirements. This system was used for nursing stations and small communal kitchens and met the needs of the residents and staff who live and work in Building E.

Our approach to Canterbury Court’s renovation and expansion ensured that all buildings had modern, efficient, and safe systems. Our team tailored each system to the needs of the residents, the owner, and the advancing standards of health services design.

Photography by Phillip Spears Architectural Photographer 

Back to: Projects