Barnes-Jewish opens Plaza West Tower on site of former Queeny Tower

Barnes-Jewish Hospital has completed a major chapter in its long-running campus renewal with the Plaza West Tower, a new 16-story patient care building rising where the aging Queeny Tower once stood. The 660,000 SF facility is designed to expand capacity for complex care, modernize inpatient workflows, and improve the experience for patients and families on Washington University’s medical campus.

Plaza West houses roughly 280 private inpatient rooms — 224 acute care and 56 intensive-care rooms — across seven inpatient floors, plus more than 100 surgical prep/recovery bays and an advanced imaging platform that includes MRI, CT, and interventional radiology suites. The tower also features family-focused amenities such as rooftop gardens, a two-story glass-enclosed lobby, a large family lounge with a business center and quiet rooms, and a new kitchen and cafeteria serving the south campus. BJC and WashU Medicine expect the building to relieve regional demand for specialized heart, vascular, and other high-acuity services.

The project was delivered as a design-build collaboration led by McCarthy Building Companies, which served as the design-build contractor and construction lead. CannonDesign served as architect and interior designer; BR+A provided consulting engineering; Thornton Tomasetti handled structural engineering; Castle Contracting led civil work; and landscape design was provided by DTLS. Early demolition and disentanglement work on the Queeny Tower site was notable for its complexity and was performed by firms experienced in live-campus demolition and utility relocation.

That integrated team employed modern health-care design approaches — private-room layouts to reduce infection risk, dedicated ICU floors, and finishes and acoustical strategies aimed at lowering noise and improving rest and recovery. The exterior vocabulary takes cues from neighboring campus buildings, pairing ultra-high performance concrete panels with a limestone podium and a prominent glass projection that visually connects the hospital to nearby Forest Park.

Construction milestones included a topping-out ceremony in mid-2024 and phased site work that preserved adjacent clinical operations while crews demolished the obsolete Queeny Tower and built the new facility. Local and regional contractors handled civil, utility, and site logistics to manage one of the largest single capital investments on the campus in recent years. BJC and WashU Medicine moved forward with a careful commissioning and staffing plan to bring the tower online for patients in late 2025.

Plaza West is the latest visible sign of a decade-long campus renewal effort to replace aging infrastructure with facilities built for contemporary care delivery, research-informed clinical models, and the patient-centered expectations of the communities the medical campus serves.

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Header image: The newly completed 16-story Plaza West Tower replacing the aging Queeny Tower at Barnes-Jewish Hospital is set to open in October. Image | Barnes-Jewish Hospital

$7 million phase one of UCM reno masterplan complete

Phase 1 of a masterplan for renovations at the University of Central Missouri (UCM) in Warrensburg, Mo. is complete.

The renovations are the first piece of the campus’ masterplan and includes a $7 million redesigned, modern main entrance and a new, 280-seat multi-purpose auditorium addition.

The architect duo of KWK Architects and CannonDesign along with general contractor, Westport Construction, joined forces to create UCM’s 15-20 year renovation masterplan and are now ready to focus on the next phase of the plan - the Elliott Student Union, a centrally-located social hub affectionately known as the “campus living room.”

The 165,000 SF student union also houses a bowling alley, several retail dining options, a cinema, university offices, a bank, student programming spaces, ballrooms and meeting spaces.

“The team analyzed existing conditions and held multiple workshops, meetings and a town hall to gain stakeholder input. We explored various design options to best meet the university’s vision for how the facility would look and feel and how its space would best be utilized,” said KWK principal Eric Neuner, AIA.

To create the new entrance, the design team shifted the south entrance to the west to create a hallway between the existing bowling center and a Steak ‘n Shake restaurant, which were also given access points within the new corridor. The former entry had also served as the entrance to the bowling alley, which created confusion for visitors not familiar with the campus or the building. The new entrance area also includes seating, a graphic wall timeline, entry signage and a wayfinding kiosk.

“The new entrance and hallway were designed to be functional as well as inviting with its comfortable seating and modern design elements which include wood accents, gray-toned flooring and the university’s signature red color featured throughout,” said Andy Noll, AIA, KWK project manager.

The 5,700-SF auditorium addition, one of the highlights of the renovation, was designed with a stage and retractable seating so that the facility could be used for a variety of student and community events, such as wedding receptions, reunions and special gatherings. The entrance to the auditorium is also accessible through the new entrance hallway.

“The first-phase auditorium addition was directed towards student recruitment, providing a large, flexible space that introduced students to the university. Additionally, it was critical that the design address a connection between the new auditorium and the main visitor entry to Elliot Student Union,” said Neuner.