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For years, the University of California, Irvine (UCI) Medical Center has been a trusted healthcare provider. Now, to better serve residents of Irvine and the surrounding areas, UCI Health is about to christen a new medical center directly on the UC Irvine campus.
In the final stages of construction and designed to complement the existing medical center in Orange, California, the new facility includes a 7-story, 144-bed general acute care hospital with a 24-hour emergency department; the Chao Family Comprehensive Cancer Center and Ambulatory Care building; and the Joe C. Wen and Family Center for Advanced Care. UCI Health’s new medical center allows the teaching hospital to spare patients living in Irvine the 15-mile drive to Orange in Southern California traffic.
“It opens up a presence for us in central and south Orange County, which we were desperately needing for many years,” says Paul Da Veiga, director of planning, design, and construction at UCI Health. “If they’re seeking services, like emergency room or imaging, they can access them conveniently in Irvine.”
Da Veiga’s design expanded UCI Health’s square footage from 1.4 million to 4 million in a year and a half. “It’s just mind-blowing,” he says.
Aside from the new medical center’s size and the speed of its construction, it has another distinction to its name. It is the world’s first all-electric hospital, which keeps UCI Health on track for its goal to become carbon neutral by 2045. “We wanted to do our part from a sustainability aspect and eliminate fossil fuels from the site,” Da Veiga says.
Unlike traditional hospitals, which require a large central steam plant powered by natural gas, the facility operates with decentralized steam generation and humidification that employs a heat recovery chiller and heat pumps. The system recovers heat generated by the chilled water process and uses it to ambiently heat spaces.
“It brings it back into the infrastructure and heating space and heating hot water. It’s quite an intricate system,” Da Veiga says.
Considered a greenfield site, the new facility allowed Da Veiga to incorporate features from his wish list and from the lessons he’s learned from existing UCI facilities, with the intention of improving patients’ experiences. To that end, the new facility includes convenient parking locations, a walkable campus, and several outdoor spaces.
Another interesting component of Da Veiga’s design is the 100,000-plus square feet of garden space. The garden floor encompasses both the ambulatory care center and the main hospital and provides a complete connection between inpatient and outpatient services.
“It’s the entire floor that’s connecting the two sites. This allows for a lot of operational efficiencies and for us to transport patients, equipment, and staff from one side to the other seamlessly,” Da Veiga says.
In addition to designing and managing the construction of UCI Health’s new medical center, Da Veiga is retrofitting four aging hospitals the university acquired last spring. He says this is his biggest challenge. “They do not meet the State of California requirements for seismicity,” Da Veiga explains. “They all need to be brought into HCAI compliance by 2030.
“This challenge is going to take me the rest of my career in terms of getting these four acquisition sites to the level of the UCI Health brand, which is an academic medical center with the best care,” he continues. “We’re carrying that brand through so folks can rely on our quality and consistency across the board.”
“Paul and I have been long-term partners consistently supporting our teams in delivering innovative solutions and advancing the care model of the future that UCI is providing to the communities they serve,” says Muhsin Lihony, director of healthcare for LPA Design Studios.
Da Veiga’s role at UCI Health is wide and varied. He oversees energy management and sustainability, construction project management, fire life safety, document control and space management, contracts administration, and budget and finance. His team shepherds projects from conception through design and planning to completion. He leads by example and is invested in everything he does.
“I like to get to the details of individual projects with my project managers and dive in with them,” Da Veiga says. “I like to get down and dirty and into the weeds.”
His position requires clear, consistent communication with both his chief operating officer and his own team. “I like to convey which way the wind is blowing,” he says. “I hear [updates] from leadership and then I can disseminate that directly to my folks.”
Da Veiga advises individuals who are stepping into similar roles to immerse themselves in the workflows of the medical center. “You have to understand how an imaging department works before you can begin engaging with an architect and starting to design a space on their behalf,” he says. “Be embedded in that process and establish those relationships with those leaders of different departments so you can effectively communicate. That’s critical because healthcare is so different than any other sector.”
Founded in 1965, LPA is an integrated design firm offering architecture, engineering, medical planning, landscape architecture and interior design services. With research at the heart of design and a commitment to sustainability and innovation, we create future-ready facilities that meet community needs. We collaborate with clients and industry partners to streamline decisions, accelerate schedules, and reduce costs while ensuring quality. For over 25 years, we’ve partnered with UCI Health on projects of all sizes, shaping the future of healthcare by integrating innovative practices, patient-centered care, data-driven decision-making, and efficient resource use.
