The treatment of texture, color, and light in this hospital floor interior conveys a message of healing and dignity to the incoming patient. Ordinary hospital drabness is replaced by the soothing grandeur of sophisticated interior architecture. Enlivened by the design vocabulary of more traditional building forms—including fine hotels and residences—the public areas and corridors create an environment that is at once hospitable and nurturing.
Gallery: The main corridor, off the elevator lobby, is a colorful gallery space. Tall ceilings, terrazzo floors, and wood-paneled walls call to mind a gallery in an Italian palazzo rather than an antiseptic hospital passageway. Elegant bronze columns and light fixtures accent the design. The usual visual clutter of hospitals is kept to a minimum, inspiring a sense of quiet and repose. The elevator lobby is simply articulated with a series of wood walls and glass columns—a beautiful and subtle finding device used throughout the floor at all caregiver stations.
Caregiver Stations: Custom workstations of visually and tactilely engaging materials—bronze brackets, blue glass, marble countertops, wood panelling—add a rich note of simple luxury. Taller ceilings and custom up-lighting complete the effect. Large, ungainly structural columns, clad in glass and backlit, softly glow in the evening when the corridors are dimmed, helping to locate the stations.
Patient Areas: Panels of translucent glass break the monotony of the long corridors to patient rooms, creating an interesting rhythm of filtered light. Unusual wainscoting and accents of blue on walls and alcoves animate the corridors and patient rooms. In this way, beauty and an affirmation of patients’ dignity contribute to the healing process.
Fougeron Architecture worked in conjunction with Anshen & Allen. We provided interior design services for the 22,000 sf hospital floor. Specifically, programming, space planning, and circulation were designed. We also were responsible for finish and furiture schedules and specifications.
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