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
| Jun 3, 2013
Construction spending inches upward in April
The U.S. Census Bureau of the Department of Commerce announced today that construction spending during April 2013 was estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $860.8 billion, 0.4 percent above the revised March estimate of $857.7 billion.
| May 21, 2013
7 tile trends for 2013: Touch-sensitive glazes, metallic tones among top styles
Tile of Spain consultant and ceramic tile expert Ryan Fasan presented his "What's Trending in Tile" roundup at the Coverings 2013 show in Atlanta earlier this month. Here's an overview of Fasan's emerging tile trends for 2013.
| May 20, 2013
Jones Lang LaSalle: All U.S. real estate sectors to post gains in 2013—even retail
With healthier job growth numbers and construction volumes at near-historic lows, real estate experts at Jones Lang LaSalle see a rosy year for U.S. commercial construction.
| May 9, 2013
Post-tornado Greensburg, Kan., leads world in LEED-certified buildings per capita
Six years after a tornado virtually wiped out the town, Greensburg, Kan., is the world's leading community in LEED-certified buildings per capita.
| May 1, 2013
Groups urge Congress: Keep energy conservation requirements for government buildings
More than 350 companies urge rejection of special interest efforts to gut key parts of Energy Independence and Security Act
| May 1, 2013
World’s tallest children’s hospital pushes BIM to the extreme
The Building Team for the 23-story Lurie Children’s Hospital in Chicago implements an integrated BIM/VDC workflow to execute a complex vertical program.
| Apr 30, 2013
Tips for designing with fire rated glass - AIA/CES course
Kate Steel of Steel Consulting Services offers tips and advice for choosing the correct code-compliant glazing product for every fire-rated application. This BD+C University class is worth 1.0 AIA LU/HSW.
| Apr 30, 2013
Healthcare lighting innovation: Overhead fixture uses UV to kill airborne pathogens
Designed specifically for hospitals, nursing homes, child care centers, and other healthcare facilities where infection control is a concern, the Arcalux Health Risk Management System (HRMS) is an energy-efficient lighting fixture that doubles as a germ-killing machine.
| Apr 24, 2013
North Carolina bill would ban green rating systems that put state lumber industry at disadvantage
North Carolina lawmakers have introduced state legislation that would restrict the use of national green building rating programs, including LEED, on public projects.