Children are brought into a world made for adults. They grow up surrounded by sprawling roadways and towering buildings, and when they become ill or hurt, they are taken to hospitals or healthcare facilities frequently designed and built for adult minds and bodies.
The Marion and John E. Anderson Building and Burtie Green Bettingen Surgery Center at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles has been open for only four months now, and the response to the child-friendly environment has been overwhelmingly positive.
CHLA is a source of pride for us. As the design and production architects on the project, we see the fruits of many years of architectural and design labor in the faces of the children entering for treatment or perhaps, to visit a brother or sister.
As a child in the early ’60s, I can remember visiting a traditionally designed urban hospital and being overwhelmed by its monolithic environment, the institutional coldness of the halls and the hum of the bright fluorescent lights. Those early impressions were frightening and lasting. And some of those hospitals still serve our children today.
A hospital’s surroundings can either heighten the anxieties and fears of its young patients and their parents, or can minimize these feelings and promote a healing environment. An architect has the power to create a positive, comfortable environment that is non-threatening for children. This can be achieved, in part, through designing “open,” non-partitioned environments. A transparent and open-air effect creates a non-claustrophobic feeling and provides an inviting atmosphere for children.
Visual stimuli can also spark the interest of young patients, while evoking a feeling of calm. Freestanding elements consisting of whimsical accoutrements, such as aquariums, illustrated walls, animated characters, playful garden settings or computer-generated interactive images can form colorful dioramas for children. The overall effect should be engaging, soothing and therapeutic.
Creating areas that elicit passive play are other key opportunities for designers. Disney Imagineering developed a Story Corner for the Anderson Building with enormous palm-tree sculptures that allow young children to become engaged within the concourse, without becoming too active.
The Disney creative team donated their time to this project, as did students from 56 L.A.-area high schools, who each painted a panel of the lobby-long mural that was placed in the entryway.
Hospitals and health-care facilities, perhaps more than other institutions, need to convey serenity, safety, and, in the case of children, perhaps a bit of fantasy. Perhaps when future facilities need to be designed or redesigned, this project will serve as a source of inspiration.
Kenneth E. Lee is a founding Principal of Lee, Burkhart, Liu Inc. in Santa Monica.
