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The Children's HospitalCommunity Hospital North New Women & Infants Center
This light-infused hospital is designed to provide a luxurious welcome for it's newest patients.
The focal point of Community Hospital North’s recent expansion is a new six-story tower that houses one of the largest and most advanced women’s and children’s hospitals in the country. The facility is designed to attract young families, create long-time loyalty, and provide an exceptional healing environment.
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RTKL Associates Inc. Team
To achieve those goals, designers created luxurious labor-delivery-recovery-postpartum (LDRP) rooms, all private suites in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), and a child-friendly pediatric unit.
A positive distraction that enhances the healing environment is a collection of 51 commissioned works by Indiana artists. The art is showcased in the gallery and throughout the hospital. Indeed, the entire facility caters to patients’ physical, psychological, and sociological needs, while helping caregivers work efficiently and safely.
“The building’s elliptical shape is tailored around clinical, support, and informatics criteria unique to women’s and children’s services,” said RTKL Vice President John Castorina, AIA, the lead designer. “The facility is also designed to positively affect patients. Healing and biochemistry go hand in hand, as emotions affect how we recover. The building is a major instrument that manages stimuli for each individual, whether they are conscious of it or not.”
One important healing element is natural light, which suffuses the entrance gallery, patient rooms, and two centrally-located atria. The predominance of clear views and natural light is immediately evident as one approaches the spacious glass-enclosed gallery that spans the front of the tower.
LDRP rooms are designed to make this hospital the facility-of-choice for expectant mothers. They are configured to provide privacy for patients, and they include large family areas with hospitality-style amenities. Centrally-located rooms for high-risk expectant mothers provide views into a sun-lit atrium and access to an outdoor terrace.
The pediatric unit is designed to intrigue children with a tropical theme of water and jungle scenes. A treasure map motif takes children on an adventure as they follow a trail that wends through corridors to where “X” marks the spot—a playroom with a treasure chest and soft foam pirate ship.
Formal name of project: Community Hospital North New Women & Infants Center
Location: Indianapolis, Indiana
Gross square footage: 400,000 sq.ft. (part of an overall one million SF expansion)
Total construction cost: $156 million (includes the tower, a professional office building, a six-level parking structure and the renovation of 140,000 square feet of existing space)
Completion Date: April 2007
Owner:
Community Health Network
Architect:
RTKL Associates Inc.
1717 Pacific Ave., Dallas, TX 75201
214-871-8877 phone
214-871-7023 fax
www.rtkl.com
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