The connection between the outdoors, health, and wellness has been gaining validity and acceptance within the design and medical communities. One of the fullest expressions of this nexus is occurring at Rancho Los Amigos National Rehabilitation Center, in Downey, Calif., the renowned recovery and rehab facility for patients with spinal cord and brain injuries, orthopedic disabilities, strokes, neurological disorders, and physical and developmental disorders.
The hospital’s ongoing $418 million revitalization and beautification, which is scheduled for completion in 2020, includes the renovation of its existing inpatient hospital, whose expansion will link it to a new outpatient building. A new wellness and aquatic therapy center already has opened, 15 months ahead of schedule.
But what makes this design-build project different will be the transformation of the facility’s entire campus into an outdoor recovery zone that encompasses a healing garden, therapy gardens, and terrain park.
Bonnie Khang-Keating, Principal and Vice President with SmithGroupJJR, the project’s lead designer, explains that the hospital—which is owned by Los Angeles County and has been in operation since 1888—has been serving the community from mostly older, modular buildings. By stacking those buildings vertically as part of the revitalization, and by adding a parking garage, SmithGroupJJR and Taylor Design, the project’s architect of record, gained considerable open space, which she estimates will account for 30–40% of the total campus.
Existing buildings and hardscape are being replaced with new dual-purpose outdoor spaces, healing gardens and terraces, and large plazas and amphitheaters that will also serve as physical therapy and terrain parks. “The hospital wants to hold events outside, like wheelchair basketball and Special Olympics,” says Khang-Keating.
SmithGroupJJR and landscape architect KSA Design Studio's layout of the rehab center surrounds new and existing buildings with a variety of outdoor environments. Image: SmithGroupJJR.
Taken together, the 29,170-sf therapy garden, the 8,400-sf horticultural garden, the 21,740-sf amphitheater, and the 8,790-sf sports court will account for 1.56 acres of open space on the hospital premises.
KSA Design Studio, the project’s landscape architect and a member of its design-build team, has focused on selecting the types of plants, ground cover, and other materials that would be used.
Khang-Keating notes that Rancho Los Amigos is unique among hospitals in that all of its outdoor-rehab activities are on the ground floor, which has the benefit of encouraging and expanding patients’ mobility. SmithGroupJJR programmed every foot of outdoor space with the expectation that it would be used every day, says Khang-Keating.
One of the goals of the design is to allow patients to learn to adapt to external conditions they will face once they’re discharged. Many former patients also return to the campus to mentor current patients.
Large sliding doors that line the entire wall of the outpatient therapy gyms further blur the boundary between indoor and outdoor space.
Because landscaping is usually the last thing that gets installed on a project, it can become an afterthought and get reduced or cut completely when budgets get tight.
But Khang-Keating says Rancho Los Amigos championed the indoor-outdoor concept right from the start. She says this is especially true of its CEO, Jorge Orozco, who started working at the hospital as a physical therapist in 1989.
In the ground-floor gym (below), glass partitions blur the divide between indoors and outdoors. Image: SmithGroupJJR.
Related Stories
| Oct 8, 2014
Massive ‘healthcare village’ in Nevada touted as world’s largest healthcare project
The $1.2 billion Union Village project is expected to create 12,000 permanent jobs when completed by 2024.
| Oct 3, 2014
Designing for women's health: Helping patients survive and thrive
In their quest for total wellness, women today are more savvy healthcare consumers than ever before. They expect personalized, top-notch clinical care with seamless coordination at a reasonable cost, and in a convenient location. Is that too much to ask?
| Sep 29, 2014
10 common deficiencies in aging healthcare facilities
VOA's Douglas King pinpoints the top issues that arise during healthcare facilities assessments, including missing fire/smoke dampers, out-of-place fire alarms, and poorly constructed doorways.
| Sep 25, 2014
Look to history warily when gauging where the construction industry may be headed
Precedents and patterns may not tell you all that much about future spending or demand.
| Sep 24, 2014
Architecture billings see continued strength, led by institutional sector
On the heels of recording its strongest pace of growth since 2007, there continues to be an increasing level of demand for design services signaled in the latest Architecture Billings Index.
| Sep 23, 2014
Cedars-Sinai looks to streamline trauma care with first-of-its-kind OR360 simulation space
The breakthrough simulation center features moveable walls and a modular ceiling grid that allow doctors and military personnel to easily reconfigure the shape and size of the space.
| Sep 22, 2014
4 keys to effective post-occupancy evaluations
Perkins+Will's Janice Barnes covers the four steps that designers should take to create POEs that provide design direction and measure design effectiveness.
| Sep 22, 2014
Sound selections: 12 great choices for ceilings and acoustical walls
From metal mesh panels to concealed-suspension ceilings, here's our roundup of the latest acoustical ceiling and wall products.
| Sep 20, 2014
Healthcare conversion projects: 5 hard-earned lessons from our experts
Repurposing existing retail and office space is becoming an increasingly popular strategy for hospital systems to expand their reach from the mother ship. Our experts show how to avoid the common mistakes that can sabotage outpatient adaptive-reuse projects.
| Sep 19, 2014
8 hot healthcare projects win interior design awards
Winners of IIDA's 2014 Healthcare Interior Design Competition include Perkins+Will, AECOM, Buffalo Design, and SmithGroupJJR, for projects from Cincinnati to Toronto.
