It is vital for healthcare architects to design for flexibility in ways that are cost effective over the life of the building, and to redefine the imagery of pediatric hospitals in ways that are both timeless and ageless, state the authors of a new report by Shepley Bulfinch.
In Designing for Children, Shepley Bulfinch pediatric design experts single out design elements that help hospitals achieve those goals. Their advice:
1. Hospitals need to welcome children and their families with imagery, recognizable elements, and nonthreatening spaces that reduce anxieties. The imagery should appeal to children of all age groups, including teenagers.
2. Detailing of casework, floor patterns, colors, and the integration of art determine the character of the hospital. These should work together to capture the imaginations of younger and adolescent patients.
3. The design of human- and child-scaled environments creates a sense of comfort and security, and supports treatment and healing.
4. Design and functionality should be age-adaptive. For example, adolescent patients have a greater need for privacy, especially during illnesses.
5. Designs should allow patients to create personal spaces, explore, and play. This can include letting the patient control the room’s lighting, sound, and privacy, as well as allowing for self-care like access to bathrooms, water, and snacks.
6. Hospitals encourage family involvement when they provide places where visiting family members can sleep, eat, work, participate in care giving, and occasionally escape.
7. Sick kids need escape, too, from the intensity of their illnesses or treatments. Activity spaces, cafés, and gardens are among the places that afford necessary distractions for patients, family, and visitors.
Related Stories
Healthcare Facilities | Mar 29, 2020
A ‘roadmap’ for building hospitals in rural and underfunded markets
Hoar Construction’s formula emphasizes preconstruction planning and input from healthcare workers.
Healthcare Facilities | Mar 27, 2020
Designing healthcare for surge capacity
We believe that part of the longer-term answer lies not just with traditional health providers, but in the potential of our cities and communities to adapt and change.
Modular Building | Mar 17, 2020
Danish hospital is constructed from 24 steel frame modules
Onsite construction was completed in two weeks.
Healthcare Facilities | Mar 9, 2020
Mobile wayfinding platform helps patients, visitors navigate convoluted health campuses
Gozio Health uses a robot to roam hospital campuses to capture data and create detailed maps of the building spaces and campus.
Healthcare Facilities | Feb 28, 2020
Valleywise Health Medical Center breaks ground in Phoenix
Cuningham Group Architecture and EYP designed the project.
Healthcare Facilities | Feb 27, 2020
Milieu: Creating restorative environments in behavioral health
It’s time to take a closer look at the collection of therapeutic settings known as milieu.
Healthcare Facilities | Feb 11, 2020
New York City’s largest freestanding cancer center opens
The building creates a model for 21st century cancer care.
Healthcare Facilities | Feb 3, 2020
China builds 645,000-sf coronavirus hospital in 10 days
The project began construction on Jan. 23.
Healthcare Facilities | Jan 30, 2020
The complex dance of healthcare transitioning
Hospital employees, though excited about technological advancements, are expected to navigate a new workplace and care for their patients at the same time, all while training on new equipment and navigating a new building.
Healthcare Facilities | Jan 15, 2020
Top 4 healthcare design trends that will shape medical planning in the 2020s
For patients and healthcare staff, these developments will be most evident in new tools, such as robotic surgical tables and intra-hospital delivery drones, that improve healthcare services and outcomes.