Golisano Children’s Hospital
Location
Rochester, NY
Completed
2015
Client
University of Rochester Medical Center
Architect
Ballinger
Fabricators
DillonWorks
ID Sign Systems
Pierrepont
L&H Companies
Construction Specialties
Flower City Glass
3Form
Awards
2018 Transform Awards – North America, Silver Award
2018 Graphis Design Annual, Silver Award
2016 UCDA Design Competition Award
2015 HOW International Design Awards, Award of Merit
2015 GDUSA American Graphic Design Award
It is well-documented that artful environments help the healing process and the ArtHouse Design team employed the finely honed skills necessary for designing the built environment to help make people feel better. Hospital visits can be scary for children, so to reduce stress and anxiety during their stays, ArtHouse created a warm, inviting and comfortable environment through playful distractions mixed with quiet areas. The distinct surroundings of Upstate New York also inspired ArtHouse’s overall design concept, with each level of the hospital featuring a different theme: lake, meadow, glen, garden, park and city.
Deliberately intended for hands-on fun, the design elements feature round, child-friendly objects; safe, durable materials; and age-appropriate, engaging activities—while functioning to help visitors navigate the different levels and areas of the hospital.
The new hospital makes a huge impact on the Finger Lakes region and nationally and the ArtHouse team wanted to distinguish it from other children’s hospitals. From the carpets to the walls and the spaces in between, ArtHouse incorporated multi-layered color gradations, vibrant photos and images and interesting textures so that kids experience something new with each and every visit.
Some highlights of the custom theming, wayfinding and donor signage program include a larger-than-life-sized, Lite Brite-style activity, hand-painted dioramas, wall-embedded turn-and-crank automatas, kinetic games, a life-size, 15-piece puzzle and a large-scale word-search. ArtHouse also incorporated sound modules into the occupiable walls with the sounds of frogs ribbiting, bubbles popping and cars honking – all to fit with the floor themes.
ArtHouse also sought to continue the detailed and extensive placemaking design with back-lit, floor-to-ceiling impact graphics and photographic murals on each floor, illuminated corian nurses’ station desks, with illuminated, etched butterfly patterns, that create a soft, warm glow, 5-foot-diameter, back-lit graphic icons that identify the themed level in elevator lobbies and playdeck floor graphics featuring fish ponds with lilypads and stepping stones.