Non-Stress Design for Children’s Hospital

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This wonderful children’s hospital in the city of Portland, Oregon, was designed by the architect of ZGF Architects LLP, Holiday Meisburger. Total area of the hospital is amounted to 31,030 sq.m. It has 165 inpatient beds for children in the emergency room, neonatal intensive care and pediatric intensive care. The hospital has a section for children with leukemia, and pediatric surgery with direct access to the separation of adult surgery.

Randall Children’s Hospital Design for Positive Emotions

A ward in the Randall Children’s Hospital in Portland, Oregon

The upper floors of the hospital are reserved for future expansion. The project included parking for 418 cars, as well as landscaping, gardening of nearby territories, creation of sidewalks and pedestrian areas. The third floor has a terrace garden for children to play.

Randall Children’s Hospital with the area of over 30,000 square meters was built using a range of environmental technologies, including high-performance thermal insulation, glazing with low energy loss and the use of recycled building materials. Through careful selection of the materials, developers have minimized the presence of mercury, copper, cadmium and lead; and used the finishing of paints, sealants and adhesives with a low content of volatile organic compounds (VOC).

Cafeteria in the Randall Children’s Hospital

All this provides a healthy indoor air composition, which is important for the hospital. In addition, the improvement of the climate contributes to an interior garden terrace, which is a place for quiet relaxation and reflection.

Architects and designers were able to balance the colors, shapes and materials used to leave aside “children’s design” cliche and did not go far in the direction of “adult design”. As a result they managed to find a solution that truly makes the hospital a health-giving place.

One of the key goals in the design of children’s hospitals is to create a peaceful and quiet atmosphere conducive to remove children’s fear and anxiety. Everyone knows that the hospital always causes stress in the child. So to set up a stress-free environment in the hospital, ZGF tried to reach or comfort and positive associations.

The 9-story Children’s Hospital consists of forms and colors that are positively perceived by children, while at the same time, do not turn into one big playground. Soft, smooth lines in each object like undulating ceilings and creative furniture evoke associations with the games, which children are familiar with. The color scheme varies depending on the functions: quiet sea tones instill calm in the neonatal intensive care unit and an active desert palette is used in the emergency room.