Construction workers will install reinforced concrete cylinders 40- to 60-feet deep into the ground during the next phase of construction of the Upstate Cancer Center. These caissons will support the five-story building, which will connect to Upstate University Hospital.

The hospital‘s circle drive drop-off was diverted temporarily this summer while workers relocated underground utilities. That entrance will be available again soon. In the meantime, cancer patients have special parking privileges in the garage.

After the caissons are in place, the concrete vaults will be poured, and the steel erection starts, says Marius Dumitran, senior project manager for facility design services at Upstate. Workers use an additive to keep the water from freezing in the winter. “Pouring concrete is much better in winter,” Dumitran explains. “Summer is the worst because the heat evaporates the water.”

Watch a live video of construction site.

Look for steel to be above ground probably by early spring. Construction is scheduled to wrap up by September/October 2013. Then the existing front lobby of the hospital is scheduled to be remodeled.

The Cancer Center will have its own entrance, with a dramatic glass atrium featuring an open stairway to the patient care floors above. Elevators will be available, too, of course. The center will connect to the main hospital on the first and second floors.

Dumitran says that the Regional Oncology Center will remain operational during the Cancer Center construction. Once the Cancer Center is completed, the ROC will be the first department to move into the new facility, onto the second floor. The space vacated by the ROC will be remodeled to receive radiation oncology staff offices and support spaces.

The first floor will house radiation oncology and an intraoperative suite. It will also feature a meditation room, a boutique, administrative offices and a conference room that will be available for community use.

A healing garden, with walking paths and benches, will be planted on the roof of the back portion of the first floor, making it visible to people on the second floor.

The second floor will be for adult oncology patients and infusion therapy. The infusion area will look out onto the garden, each station separated by low partitions and decorative glass to provide privacy with an open feel.

The third floor will be for pediatric oncology patients and multi-specialties. The pediatric design will incorporate a nature theme similar to that found in the Upstate Golisano Children‘s Hospital.

Administrators are deciding which departments and services will occupy the fourth and fifth floors.