SEATTLE CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL: DIAGNOSTIC AND TREATMENT CENTER
In 2022, ZGF Architects completed the design of a picturesque building for the care of young patients: a diagnostic and treatment center at Seattle Children’s Hospital in Seattle, Washington.
What should the transformation of the hospital look like? For children and their families, this should mean ease of start and end of their ‘hospital journey’ so they can fully focus on their treatment. For doctors and staff, this means optimizing the work environment so they can focus on what’s most important – patient care, with specialized working conditions and places to relax nearby.
That’s what Seattle Children’s Hospital was designed for.
The project embodies the dedication of hundreds of staff, families, project team partners, and community members at Seattle Children’s Hospital who came together over 18 months and 55 planning and design workshops to develop a flexible, high-performance, patient-centered model of patient care. Extensive user engagement has helped ZGF understand what patients and their families need before, during and after treatment. The project ensures that they have the right information, resources and facilities to support their journey every step of the way – from project planning and preparation to welcoming and arriving visitors to campus, discharge and return home. Therefore, the building is designed in such a way as to satisfy the basic needs of visitors without spending time looking for where to go, but rather focusing on the treatment process itself.
Eight above-ground floors and three levels of underground parking add to the project eight new operating rooms, two catheterization labs, 20 multipurpose inpatient wards, a new ambulatory cancer and blood disease clinic (CBDC), an ambulatory infusion center, a retail pharmacy, an inpatient pharmacy, laboratories and a sterile materials processing facility. The building connects to the first stage of the project – an inpatient ward building and an emergency department, also designed by ZGF. The future third stage will complete the building with another ward building.
From the point of view of navigation, the idea of the “Path of Discovery” project connects all four areas of the hospital – Forest, River, Mountains and Ocean – into one whole. Starting from the wooded area, the building creates major horizontal connections, or pathways, on level 3 to the rest of the lower campus and on level 7 to the rest of the upper campus. The name refers to the Pacific Northwest landscapes that inspire and connect users with the natural habitats for which the facility’s areas are named. It also links to the artwork and interactive design elements found along the trail-corridor.
The picturesque fairy trunk in the middle of the hall, created by artist Sean Qualcius Peterson, is not only a gathering place at the front door, but also the beginning of this comprehensive story of finding the way. A large trail map in the lobby illustrates how the four areas connect and identifies the easiest route for young visitors and their families.
To expand and optimize surgical care, universal operating complexes allow any surgeon to operate, regardless of specialty or type of case. New histology and pathology laboratories are located next to the operating theaters to support the most complex cases. The design facilitates real-time communication between surgeons and pathologists, allowing faster sample processing and reducing the time the patient is under sedation. The operating rooms and catheterization labs also have induction rooms, allowing family members to stay with their child as long as possible before surgery.
Design: ZGF Architects
Photos: Benjamin Benschneider, Lara Swimmer
Area: 485,000 sq.m
Year of construction completion: 2022
Location: Seattle, Washington, USA
Type of institution: Hospital
Link to the original article: //healthcaresnapshots.com/projects/14507/seattle-childrens-hospital-building-care-diagnostic-and-treatment-facility/
