Carl R. Darnall Army Medical Center

This design-build project replaced the existing Carl R. Darnall Army Medical Center at Ft. Hood with a new, state-of-the-art healthcare facility for service members and their families. It consisted of constructing a 612,000-square foot hospital building, three clinic buildings totaling 324,000 square feet, a 25,000-square foot central utility plant; and three parking garages totaling 1,062,000 square feet. 

Darnall is the largest project to date funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, and is the largest design-build project in the Department of Defense’s (DOD) medical construction.  

The design-build process greatly benefitted the project, saving time and money due to increased efficiency, removing at least two years from the construction timeline. 

Due to the hospital’s forward-thinking design and construction, another two floors can be added at a later time, if needed. The choice of the concrete structural system allows for longer bays, which will allow for greater ease of adoption to future changes in healthcare technology.