Description

Seen from outside, the most intriguing feature of the Nemours Children’s Hospital is probably the cheerful effect of the inpatient rooms at night. Children are allowed to choose the color of the light in their temporary lodging, transforming this part of the building into a light spectacle that changes almost daily. It is the outward manifestation of an idea that marks contemporary healthcare architecture: patients need to feel empowered. This is a building for children who, no matter how young they are, should be taken seriously. The color tableau adds an enjoyable note in already pleasurable surroundings. With its agreeable climate, lots of sunshine and high temperatures, Florida doesn’t need much else to qualify as the prime leisure state of America, although the numerous theme parks in the state are a welcome addition. Set in a wooded area near Orlando, with the silhouettes of several tourist attractions dotting the horizon, Nemours Children’s Hospital adds a pleasant landmark to this scenery. The architects took care not to design Nemours as another theme park: an atmosphere of serenity and calm pervades the interior.

Nemours is built on the campus of Lake Nona Medical City on a site that used to be agricultural land far away from the hassle of city life. It profits from close connections to the medical services provided there. Its immediate surroundings offered little the architecture could relate to – except for the natural scenery. Even so, the building does refer, however abstractly, to the French city of Nemours – that is where the founder of the client foundation came from. Like its namesake, it is a dense, urban complex set in a landscape marked by water, in this case a multitude of small lakes.

The institution acts as an intermediary between technology-driven medicine and the preventive and supportive properties of the environment, combining the best of two worlds. Following initial studies by Roger Ulrich in the 1980s, the guiding design principles were the positive effect of sunlight and the focus on the surroundings of the building. Views and natural light were thus primary concerns. Working with an extensive team of experts, among them AECOM landscape designers, the architects wanted to create a hospital in a garden. Nemours Children’s Hospital boasts two roof gardens. A discovery garden is dedicated to the senses: there are fragrant plants that stimulate smelling and soundscapes that speak to the ears. Whereas this garden is reserved for the children who are treated in the adjacent department, the second rooftop garden is open to everybody, offering children and their companions opportunities to focus on rehabilitation, including an obstacle course and walking paths.

At Nemours, children with chronic disorders are at home as well as children with complex diagnoses or life-threatening diseases. It has 95 beds and 76 consultancy rooms; additional space can accommodate 32 beds and 24 consultancy rooms on top of that. Instead of opting for a generic outpatient department with shared consultancy spaces, each medical specialization has its own rooms. Guiding principle of the hospital’s organizational concept was the decision to locate the clinics for inpatients at the same level as the outpatient departments. The selection of distinct design features for each level helps children and their parents to establish a more intimate relationship with the facilities they use as well as with the nursing staff working there. Since children’s hospitals are as much about parents as they are about children, the hospital board embraced the principle of family-centered care, including sleeping facilities for two persons in each of the single bedrooms.

The layout comprised six levels on a raised ground floor with delivery and services underneath. Careful landscape design including a green mound disguises the fact that the entrance is on the first floor, hiding the services and the delivery area underneath. Also on the first floor are the administration and a learning center. Surgery and a generic outpatient department occupy the floor above. Wayfinding is facilitated by giving each floor its own color, texture, imagery and artwork. Landmarks, among them a saltwater tank donated and maintained by Sea World, the well-known nearby theme park, help patients and visitors to find their way.

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Originally published in: Cor Wagenaar, Noor Mens, Guru Manja, Colette Niemeijer, Tom Guthknecht, Hospitals: A Design Manual, Birkhäuser, 2018.