New Cardon Childrens Medical Center Opens
What would it be like if children designed a hospital? The spaces would presumably be playful, the structure whimsical, and the overall design imaginative. Banner Health’s new Cardon Children’s Medical Center in Mesa, AZ, is just that. Perhaps not designed by children, but certainly designed for their eyes.
Designed by HDR Architecture, Inc., with Kitchell as the construction manager, Cardon Children’s Medical Center creates an enduring and inspirational hospital experience for children of all ages.
“Children see things differently than adults,” said Jim Hohenstein, senior designer at HDR. “We wanted to design a building through and for their eyes. We wanted them to feel at home in this space – a space where they can receive care, heal, and most importantly, be children.”
Prior to the new facility, Banner Children’s Hospital was a ‘hospital within a hospital’ located within Banner Desert Medical Center. The new facility, renamed Cardon Children’s Medical Center, consolidates all pediatric care functions into one building as well as increases bed capacity from 145 to 248. Construction costs for the $362 million facility were $250 million, which included the new hospital, remodeling sections of the existing space, and construction of the first two floors of a future tower.
The exterior design was derived from the fractured geometry of the desert. Stucco walls are corrugated like the ridges of the saguaro cactus and fragmented to create a playful ambiance that appeals to children. The exterior glass is turquoise colored to relate to the hues of existing patinaed copper canopies, and the upper inpatient bed floors take the form of the desert agave, a plant symbolic of the building’s relationship to nature and the healing process. The building also uses many native and indigenous materials, creating a familiar and inviting feeling for the patients and their families. A waterfall cascading off the canopy at the main entry draws visitors and families to the front door.
The interior spaces of the hospital focus on nature and neighborhoods, themes chosen to create a calming, serene environment for children and families. Scattered throughout the lobby are park benches, street lamps and foliage mirroring a park-like setting. Lodge-like facades and park-inspired murals decorate the walls throughout the lobby, and gel-filled floor tiles, child-centered registration, and a play area that can be accessed via a play tunnel remind children that the hospital was designed for them.
Patients don’t have rooms, but rather ‘homes’ with doorways that look like those of homes. The interiors of the rooms are brightly colored and feature panoramic views of the surrounding communities and distant mountains. Dietary stations and laundry facilities are found on each patient floor for family use, and decentralized nurse stations are positioned directly outside each room, close enough to keep an eye on patients but distant enough to allow privacy. Each patient floor also features a separate room for parents to take a break and decompress away from the action.
“The reception the new facility has received from the community and the children using it has been overwhelmingly positive,” said Hohenstein. “The new facility features child-friendly aesthetics, positive distractions, and a family-centered care model. More importantly, the hospital provides spaces for children to heal. Through the eyes of a child, it’s what a children’s hospital should be.”
