The new Cedars-Sinai Marina del Rey Hospital has been quickly rising. Since October, it has grown from a block-long hole in the ground hidden by construction fencing to an eight-story tower stretching high above the street.

Cranes standing 200 feet tall hoist giant beams from trucks arriving daily with fresh supplies of steel. Piece by piece, the beams are lowered into place, framing the profile of the new nine-story community hospital that is expected to be ready for patients in 2026.

“What we see today are the steel columns and beams that form the structure for the hospital and the floors of the hospital; we are seeing it literally come out of the ground,” says Zeke Triana, AIA, vice president of facilities planning, design and construction at Cedars-Sinai. “It brings me a lot of joy because I have been involved with the planning of this since Day 1.”

The new building will replace the current two-story hospital that has been serving the community for more than 50 years. The new hospital will have an expanded emergency department, additional private patient rooms, state-of-the-art operating rooms, cardiac catheterization and gastroenterology labs, and interventional procedure suites to treat patients with complex needs, such as treatments for strokes and other image-guided interventions.

The design plan reflects the natural environment of the marina. Different colored glass on the hospital’s façade will create subtle waves. Those curves and colors will flow into the lobby where a large staircase will guide visitors up to a surgical waiting area. Large windows will bathe the interior in natural light and make the hospital easier to navigate on the higher floors, Triana says.

“When you get up to the patient areas and the elevator opens, on one side you will have views of the marina, on the other side you will have views of the hills, and it will be just a wonderful patient experience for everyone,” Triana says.

Hospital staff members have been eagerly watching the progress next door from the current hospital.

At the construction site, workers bolt and weld beams and columns into place and prepare the tower for the mechanical systems–air vents and pipes–that will be hidden away behind ceilings and walls. Next, they will pour the concrete floors, and the glass façade will follow shortly after.