Healthcare Design - September 2016 - 54

SEPTEMBER 2016

ROOM FOR ALL

A multidisciplinary team, including engineering
and design pros, physicians, nurses, chaplains,
past and prospective patients, and even nutritional services and housekeeping personnel, informed the design process. "We had them come
in and tweak the design," says Vargas. "It's one
thing when you see the design on paper. It's another thing when you're able to interact from a
full-scale mock-up, so it was very helpful."
Input from staff and patients was extensive. In
fact, their involvement led to a complete overhaul of the layout in labor and delivery rooms,
where the original configuration included alcoves. Feedback led to a redesign of the rooms to
be wide-open spaces, affording mothers a constant sightline to their newborns and better enabling the NICU team to demonstrate visually
how they're meeting babies' needs.
All of the currently built-out patient rooms
are spacious enough to accommodate daytime
and overnight visitors on convertible couches.
There's also a foldout table for families to eat together or work. To make a patient's stay feel less
stressful, the hospital installed customizable
overhead lighting and temperature settings. The
headwall is dimmable, too.

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The focal point of the labor and delivery rooms is a
customized headwall featuring a back-lit resin panel
with brightly colored ribbons, representing the celebration of new life, and sliding panels to keep medical
equipment out of the patient's sightline.

Headwalls conceal much of the medical equipment, while still allowing nurses easy access
behind sliding panels. "At the center of the headwall is an illuminated panel that acts as artwork,"
says Zurita. In the childbirth rooms, these acrylic
panels feature blue and green ribbons placed
by hand. This design represents the "unveiling
of a beautiful experience in life and the gift that
childbirth is," Zurita explains. "It's one of the few
times you're at the hospital for a happy reason."
The patient bathrooms were designed with
infection control in mind. Shower walls feature
durable solid surfaces without grout lines, so they
resist bacteria and mold. Of the 14 labor and delivery suites on the third floor, 10 have hydrotherapy
showers, outfitted with several jets to help relieve
pain during labor. The other four have laboring
tubs with air jets, also targeting body pains.
Creative details extend beyond the patient
rooms, too. Catering to patients whose hospital
stays may span anywhere from a week to two

ALL INTERIOR PHOTOS BY RON BLUNT; E XTERIOR PHOTOS BY MICHAEL STAVARIDIS

main lobby. The lobby features a two-story atrium
wrapped in glass; a large-scale glass globe chandelier; and graceful, hourglass-shaped columns
covered in reflective glass mosaic with illuminated
caps. Nested arcs simplify wayfinding by combining wood panels and lit signs that direct visitors to
key areas of the hospital.
The lobby's furniture continues the subtle water theme with elegant, icy blue vinyl and sofa
backs featuring abstract designs. Modular sofas rest on area rugs imbued with abstract floral
patterns. Overall, the setting emphasizes hospitality in keeping with the hospital leadership's
goal to welcome patients, newborns, and visitors
while putting them at ease, says Veronica Zurita,
vice president at VOA Associates Inc. (now Stantec; Orlando) and the interior designer who led
the effort in completing the lobby and labor and
delivery floors.
The corridors facilitate movement with soft
cove lighting that follows gentle curves in the
flooring. The design theme continues throughout the first floor, which houses the women's
wellness center, offering digital mammography,
cardiac assessments, high-risk genetic cancer
screenings, lactation consults, and the only milk
depot in Central Florida.

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Healthcare Design - September 2016

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