Healthcare Design - August 2018 - 52

AWA R D O F M E R I T

Can-do spirit

Chicago's Shirley Ryan AbilityLab impresses
jurors with its new spin on translational
medicine that empowers patients and providers
By Jennifer Kovacs Silvis
facility for the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, a place where adults and
children seek care for complex conditions resulting from traumatic brain
and spinal cord injury, stroke, amputation, and cancer. But the project
didn't just give the provider a new space; it gave translational medicine a
whole new approach.
The building is designed so that clinicians, researchers, and scientists
work together, every day, in shared spaces that surround patients. The
results are a shortening of the time it might otherwise take to discover
new treatment methods and apply them to care delivery. The 1.2 millionsquare-foot hospital was completed in December 2016 and houses five
ability labs dedicated to specific functions (for example, the Legs + Walking
Lab) and their associated interdisciplinary teams.
It was early feedback from patients that shaped the branding and operational approach, inspiring a focus on rehabilitation as a process and not an
outcome and on what patients can do rather than what they can't. Because
it was critical that the new building support that strategy as well as goals for
intense collaboration, the owner began what was dubbed a "living experiment" in 2012, outfitting the existing facility with an ability lab. The prototype was used for five years, ultimately serving as a key validation tool that
shaped the vision and design of the Shirley Ryan AbilityLab.
The project was submitted by HDR (Chicago) and Gensler (Chicago).
Here, lead designers Anne Gibson, design director, principal at Gensler;
Tom Trenolone, design director at HDR; and Jon Crane, director of translational health at HDR, share more details on some of the design elements
jurors loved.

AUGUST 2018

A B OV E : The
sky lobby
serves as a welcome
center and communal
hub for visitors, with
its soaring vertical
volume allowing
maximum daylight
and expansive views
of the city while showcasing the building's
bold and modern
aesthetic. L E F T: The
design is intentional
in recognizing the
needs of specific
patients being served.
For example, curved
walls throughout
the facility provide
frictionless movement
to ease navigation,
especially for those
with functional
impairment or using
wheelchairs or
other assistive
devices.

HCDMAGAZINE.COM

Healthcare Design: This project is a first
for translational medicine in terms of clinicians, scientists, technologists, etc.,
working together in shared spaces. How
did you approach the design to support this
concept of collaborating by choice and not
chance?
Jon Crane: We used an evidence-based approach to translation and collaboration by
applying eight major principles for creating a collaborative environment. These principles, such
as horizontal and vertical integration, proximity,
driving movement, and translocation, provided
the team with a method to evaluate design ideas
from the big design moves down to the details.
Anne Gibson: Every design decision was
driven by the notion of bringing people together and celebrating that activity. The building
has no corridors; rather, it has pockets of space
that allow people to congregate and engage in
therapy. Communication and connection are
key to the advancement of innovation and are
physically present everywhere in the building. By removing traditional silos between
researchers and clinicians, the design and programming places them directly in front of patients, allowing them to observe and feel the
patient's exercises and desire to gain new ability by recording responses to certain tools and
methods in real time.

THE $550 MILLION Shirley Ryan AbilityLab in Chicago is a replacement

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Healthcare Design - August 2018

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