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Jeff Herd is watching the calendar 鈥� and the sky 鈥� as site work progresses for a new medical office building on Legacy Health‘s campus in Gresham.

Crews are working at a quick pace to install curbs, complete a parking lot and place gravel for the new Legacy Mount Hood Medical Center before the rainy season arrives. In Herd’s experience, that’s usually Oct. 16 鈥� give or take a few days.

鈥淭ypically, it’s within one week of that date that the rain socks us in,鈥� said Herd, a supervisor with Fortis Construction, the project’s general contractor.

Fitting the site work within a 45-day window is critical to keep the project’s schedule on target. With 13 months allotted for construction, the 68,000-square-foot medical services office building is slated to open in early 2016.

It’s a high-profile project for the area 鈥� the first new building that Legacy has built on its Gresham campus in at least seven 鈥� and maybe as many as 10 鈥� years, according to Julie Reed, public and community relations specialist for Legacy Mount Hood. The three-story building’s design and its intended use reflect how the health care industry has changed in less than a decade.

鈥�(Those older buildings) 鈥� look fairly uniform on the campus,鈥� Reed said. 鈥淭his new one is going to have a different look 鈥� that’s partly reflected by the function that’s going on in there.鈥�

The difference will be apparent as soon as people step through the main entrance.

Strong winds from the Columbia River Gorge to the east have long made it necessary for entrances to be on campus buildings’ west sides. The new office building is no exception. What is unusual, though, is the orientation of the main lobby. A 90-degree rotation of the space, which boasts an expanse of glass, was designed to do more than just provide a stunning view of Mount Hood.

鈥淩eally, it’s a windscreen,鈥� said Sue Ann Barton, a principal at ZGF Architects, the project architect. 鈥淲e made it very glassy and open, so it’s going to almost glow, and there will be no question about where the (main door) is.鈥�

Materials selected for the building are designed to reflect the surroundings. The exterior, for example, features extensive use of slate. Sections of glass are printed with a striped design that, while offering the functionality of reduced heat and glare, also pay tribute to the stands of trees the Pacific Northwest is noted for, Barton said.

Despite being tied to the geography of the area, the interior materials do differ from one floor to the next.

鈥淲e used different materials because they really are different types of spaces,鈥� Barton said.

The second floor and third floor, for example, will function as traditional medical office space. The middle level will hold clinical offices for Legacy Medical Group’s special practices, while the top floor will be kept in reserve for future expansion.

The building’s ground floor will play host to gastroenterology and outpatient services. Those departments have outgrown their spaces in Legacy’s main hospital on the campus.

鈥淭his is a way to move some of our outpatient services into a more modern, expanded, industry-standard treatment space,鈥� Reed said.

The new, larger space will allow Legacy to enhance its day surgery facilities by expanding from two treatment rooms to four, creating a larger procedure recovery area and offering some outpatient surgery suites.

鈥淭he idea is that by doing an outpatient center, you’re trying to get some of the procedural systems out of the main hospital,鈥� Barton said. 鈥淭he idea was that this should be a very open, welcoming center with an emphasis on wellness, on getting patients to be proactive.鈥�

Making the new building’s focus on wellness, rather than illness, is even changing the way site work is being done.

Herd and his crew are continuing to race the clock 鈥� and the calendar 鈥� and preparing to construct a new loop road. When completed, the road will direct ambulance traffic to the main hospital, keeping it separate from traffic to the new building.

鈥淲e’re going hard right now to get it all done,鈥� Herd said. 鈥淭he more site work we can get out of the way now, that makes the building portion more feasible.鈥�

Legacy Mount Hood Medical Center

Location: Gresham

Owner/developer: Legacy Health

Architect/interior designer/landscape architect: ZGF Architects

Mechanical/electrical engineer: Mazzetti Engineers

Structural/civil engineer: KPFF Consulting Engineers

General contractor: Fortis Construction