Every now and then I like to recognize Interior Design frims and Architectural firms for their outstanding work and the impact they make in our lives! I was quite inspired when I came across Tsoi/Kobus & Associates' design for the new University of Minnesota Amplatz Children's Hospital. Their design helps turn a child's recovery process into a virtual safari, using colorful graphics and color palattes that are inviting to children. The six-story, 231,500-square-foot building consolidates the hospital’s pediatric programs and inpatient units, and provides some more breathing room for the wide range of services offered by the hospital. The new facility includes 96 same-handed, private inpatient rooms; a sedation/observation unit; a dialysis unit; a pediatric emergency department; an expansion of the imaging department and surgical suite; a family resource center; gift shop; and underground parking. The medical facilities alone make Amplatz a top-tier hospital, but it’s the immersive environment created by TK&A that makes it an innovator in children’s healthcare.
The experience actually begins long before setting foot inside the doors. Viewable from Interstate 94 as well as East River Drive, a major arterial into Minneapolis, Amplatz’ bright exterior panels announce its presence in a very dramatic way. Manufactured in England by Rimex Metals Group, the panels are made of stainless steel and covered in an anodized coating that provides a dichroic effect, reflecting light in different ways depending on how it strikes the surface. According to Richard Kobus, FAIA, FACHA, TK&A senior principal and principal-in-charge for the Amplatz project, the resulting splash of blues and purples achieve the ideal balance of being inviting and projecting credibility.
“We didn’t want a building that was in any way institutional or threatening to children".
Once inside, the hospital’s unique “Passport to Discovery” theme takes over, guiding children and adults through the facilities with the help of 15 “storytellers”—animal companions chosen for their contributions to our understanding of medicine and biology, such as the sea snail and the tree frog. Each floor of the hospital corresponds to, and is designed to reflect, a specific ecosystem—the deep ocean takes up three underground levels of parking and the first two floors of the hospital, while the grasslands, lakes, rainforest and desert occupy the upper levels. From there, a storyteller occupies various locations on each floor. Patients and adults are encouraged to visit the storyteller, who in turn teaches lessons about their natural environment through graphic and art elements. The patients are given “passports” which are stamped after each lesson, and are encouraged to explore.
“It was a way of motivating children to move around the floor, to walk if they could or go in a wheelchair,”
Kobus says. “One of the big challenges for a children’s hospital is when children are feeling ill, they’re reluctant to move around. They’re cautious about it, and anything you can do to entice them to take those first steps, to move down the hallway, to see other places and get out of their room is actually very beneficial to their recovery.”
This hospital goes far beyond than taking care of it's patients. It provides emotional and mental support to families going through a difficult period, while speeding the recovery process for all involved.
TK&A Architects have been given the following awards for the University of Minnesota, Amplatz Children's Hospital
Contract Magazine:
Health Environment Award
Honorable Mention, Acute Care Facility
Interior Design Magazine:
Best of Year
Honoree
Minnesota Physician
Honor Roll
Modern Healthcare Design Awards: Honorable Mention
