Case Study: Northwestern Memorial Healthcare achieves minimal-disruption MRI expansion with Thornton Tomasetti structural design

Northwestern Memorial HealthCare adds Level 5 MRI support in 2023 with Thornton Tomasetti

The customer, Northwestern Memorial HealthCare, faced the challenge of installing a new MRI unit in an area of Prentice Women's Hospital that was not originally designed to support the heavy equipment. The vendor, Thornton Tomasetti, was engaged to provide structural design and erection engineering services for the necessary upgrade.

Thornton Tomasetti implemented a creative structural solution that involved strengthening the floor above the intended MRI area and designing a floating slab hung from that framing to support the new machinery. This approach minimized disruption by avoiding work on the underside of the floor, which would have affected patient areas below. The result was a successful upgrade that allowed the new MRI unit to be installed with simplified construction and no impact on the hospital's fourth-floor operations.

Northwestern Memorial HealthCare