Also, a permanent stormwater detention pond will be dug near the corner of Cedar Lane and Rockville Pike on what is now a Bldg. 31 parking lot for 300 cars. The pond was foreseen several years ago in NIH's 20-year master plan, which calls for buffer space around the perimeter of the campus. Each patient room will have a couch near a window where patients' family members can sleep. More and more families are staying with patients these days.
Many foreign patients expect to stay with the patient all day long.
The group has solicited advice and recommendations on features for the new hospital from hundreds of NIH'ers and consultants, who were interviewed extensively. What will become of Bldg. Chyun says master planning and money are sorely needed for the facility, now undergoing infrastructure repairs designed to keep it functioning primarily as a lab facility for the coming decades. Each floor of the CRC will connect directly with the ACRF, but the underground parking garage and first few floors must be drastically reworked to allow easy passage between old and new portions. One drawback of the old building that continually plagued CC management has been slow elevator service within the hospital.