Perkins+Will and The Johns Hopkins Hospital Facilities and Design staff designed a new 1.6-million-square-foot complex for the academic medical center and the nation’s top-ranked hospital.
Opening May 1, 2012, the facility will serve as a new gateway to the medical campus while transforming the healthcare experience. Distinguished by its curved shape, articulated forms, bold color, gardens, and natural light, the Johns Hopkins Hospital includes two 12-story towers for children’s and adult healthcare that rise from an eight-story base of the structure.
The design for the new clinical building provides a clear identity for each tower composed into a unified whole. The complex includes 560 private patient rooms, 33 state-of-the-art operating rooms, and expansive new adult and pediatric emergency departments. Its integrated healthcare planning and design supports both the most advanced medical technology and the latest evidence-based strategies for ideal patient-oriented care.
The curvilinear glass and brick building, accented with colorful panels, serves as the new front door to the hospital and the entire 14-acre campus. The architecture guides people to the entrance where a canopy extends the length of the entrance, sheltering the emergency and hospital entryways. A landscaped entry plaza, the size of a football field, leads the way into a two-story sky-lit adult tower lobby with a meditation garden as well as the soaring four-story children’s lobby.??
In a rare approach, from the outset of the facility’s planning and design, a multidisciplinary project partnership was established for a highly interactive process of creative exchange. This unique collaboration included Perkins+Will, artists from across the country, an art curator, Bloomberg Philanthropies, and Johns Hopkins staff and leadership. As a result of this alliance, the building now incorporates over 500 works of art created for the facility by more than 70 artists, as well as numerous healing gardens, to create a dignified, uplifting, and nurturing environment. ??
A key design feature of the building, created in collaboration with Brooklyn-based artist Spencer Finch, is a shimmering glass curtain wall that covers much of the building’s exterior. Perkins+Will worked closely with Finch and the project partnership over many months to integrate the architecture with the artist’s concept. The result is a multi-colored two-layered fritted glass façade that incorporates Finch’s unique approach to color. Its effect moderates the Baltimore light by day and transforms the building into a glowing composition of color and light by night. BD+C
Related Stories
| Jul 7, 2014
How to keep an employee from jumping ship
The secret to keeping your best employees productive and happy isn’t throwing money at them, as studies have continuously shown that money isn’t the top factor in employee happiness. Here are four strategies from leadership coach Kristi Hedges. SPONSORED CONTENT
| Jul 7, 2014
Nothing fixes a bad manager
Companies seem to try everything imaginable to fix their workplaces, says Gallup Chairman and CEO Jim Clifton in a recent blog post, except the only thing that matters: naming the right person manager. SPONSORED CONTENT
| Jul 3, 2014
Gehry edits Canadian skyscraper plan to be 'more Toronto'
After being criticized for the original tower complex, architect Frank Gehry unveils a new design that is more subtle, and "more Toronto."
| Jul 2, 2014
First Look: Qatar World Cup stadium design references nomadic heritage
Organizers of the Qatar 2022 World Cup, the Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy, recently unveiled designs for the second stadium.
| Jul 2, 2014
SHoP designs what would be Brooklyn's tallest building
JDS Development partners with SHoP to construct a 70-story building at 775-feet tall, unprecedented for downtown Brooklyn.
| Jul 2, 2014
The doctor is in the firehouse: New clinic to be built in California fire station
Designed by WRNS Studio, the Firehouse Clinic will encourage local residents with limited healthcare access to consider them as an alternative to the emergency room, especially for preventive care.
| Jul 2, 2014
Emerging trends in commercial flooring
Rectangular tiles, digital graphic applications, the resurgence of terrazzo, and product transparency headline today’s commercial flooring trends.
| Jul 2, 2014
Grimshaw's 'kit of parts' design scheme selected for Qatar sports facilities program
The series of projects, called the Al Farjan Recreational Sports Facilities, have been designed in such a way that the same basic design can be adapted to the specific requirements of each site.
| Jul 1, 2014
Peter Zumthor's LA art museum plan modified with bridge-like section across main thoroughfare
After his design drew concerns about potential damage to LA's La Brea Tar Pits, Peter Zumthor has dramatically revised his concept for the Los Angeles Museum of Art.
| Jul 1, 2014
China's wild circular skyscraper opens in Guangzhou [slideshow]
The 33-story Guanghzou Circle takes the shape of a giant ribbon spool, with the floor space housed in a series of boxes suspended between two massive "wheels."