River Bluff Architects

On the boards : Heartland Regional Medical Center

Title: On the boards : Heartland Regional Medical Center

Caption: Central Nurse's Station to get a facelift; large soffit/cloud to be added above desk, and carry into exam room. Bed-bound patients and patients on the exam table will have something to look at on the ceiling above them to help ease fears of being in an unfamiliar hospital setting.

Keywords: healthcare architect architecture pediatric design

We are working with the staff at Heartland Regional Medical Center to provide a new design for the Pediatrics Wing of the hospital. On a limited budget, we are leaning on the creativity of the staff, patients and local artists to help complete our vision for the wing, a "Get Well Gallery." New interior finishes will be accompanied by a display space for artwork created by patients during their stay at the hospital. A "color river" floor pattern directs patients and their parents to the center nursing station and provides wayfinding markers for each of the patient room pods. Antique/salvaged picture frames will line one side of the hallway, refinished in bright color to match the color palette. Current patient rooms are arranged in a "pod" formation, with four rooms attached to a nursing station. Each pediatrics pod will be assigned a color, and we are working with the nursing staff to come up with vivid images to theme each patient room, completing the sentence "Blue is _____ or "Green is _____. We will work with local artists to illustrate these themes to create art for the patient rooms. The color theme of the room pods is being inspired by the children's book, "Hailstones and Halibut Bones," by Mary O'Neill. Central Nurse's Station to get a facelift; large soffit/cloud to be added above desk, and carry into exam room. Bed-bound patients and patients on the exam table will have something to look at on the ceiling above them to help ease fears of being in an unfamiliar hospital setting. A 3-D plan showing the organization of the rooms, and the connections the colors can provide between the rooms and the corridors.