Healthcare Design - December 2015 - 62

REMODEL/RENOVATION - WOMEN'S HEALTH

Children's Health FETAL Center DALLAS
Submitted by: Gensler HOUSTON
Cost/sq. ft.: N/A
Design team: Gensler (architecture and interior designer); Robins &
Morton (contractor); SSR (MEP); Datum Engineers (structural); Essential
Light Design Studio (lighting); Amuneal (millwork); Chandler Signs (signage); Skyline Art Services (artwork); The KipCo & CS Gulf Coast (wall
graphic); Workplace Resource (furniture dealer); Stone Surface (stone)
compelled decision makers to look at
issues with new lenses. Rarely did the
solutions go outside the boundaries of
proven protocols, but those that did
changed the center's position among
its colleagues and community. Bringing a hotel designer on to the project
changed the conversation to focus
on the patient experience. Features
like connected touchdown spaces for
doctors and a robust telemed suite for
consulting stretched the bandwidth
for technology. These challenges were
met by engaging subject matter expertise in healthcare, hospitality, and IT.
The hospital also had to deal with
infrastructure challenges to make
this center work. Creating a new
public access "front door" for FETAL
Center patients meant restructuring
the hospital's greeting and check-in
processes. Planning the movement
of patients from the center to the
hospital through a former service corridor meant training staff, upgrading
mechanical systems, and creating an
appealing transition space.
Staff, medical leadership, facilities
management, and IT worked hand-inhand with the design and construction teams to shape a new experience
for mothers and their families. The
first patient admired the way this "did
not remind them of a hospital" and
the staff enjoy comfortable, direct
access to patients supported by the
space. Responses across the user
groups concur that smart healthcare
design combined with hospitality experiential aesthetics created a soothing, healthful, and technologically
advanced place centered on fetal care.

Jury comments:
* Met goal of soft, relaxing, welcoming space. Very calming textures, fabrics,
lighting, and colors.
* Welcoming yet professional environment-great balance of the two.
* Beautiful transformation of this space; materials and textures give it a
timeless, upscale feel.

Healthcare Design * special supplement

BEFORE

WHITNEY FUESSEL (BEFORE); SLYWORKS PHOTOGRAPHY; RYAN GOBUTY (AFTER)

Children's Health recaptured
precious space on its main campus
to accommodate its progressive new
Fetal Evaluation Treatment Alliance
(FETAL) Center concept that serves
three institutions within the partnership. A complete remodel and renovation of what had been front office
space, to open a dedicated entrance
and create an inviting environment
for this new service, required a fresh
look at the challenges.
The objectives were set early: Create
a place where patients feel safe, comfortable, relaxed, and welcome; gracefully accommodate physicians from
all over the country virtually and/
or physically; support the center as a
distinct service offering with a direct
link into the hospital; and comply with
hospital construction regulations.
This new model posed a variety
of challenges across operations and
facilities. Building the model of
services that accommodated three institutions took more than a year and
doctors, hospital administration, and
facilities teams had to agree on location and impact. To accomplish this,
Children's Health offered space at
the front of the hospital, while other
hospital functions were relocated on
the campus, and a workable financial
model was built.
Building consensus for the center
was a challenge met in the design
thinking process. This iterative process engaged partners, staff, and other
stakeholders in a course of discovery,
decision making, and commitment.
Planners and designers focused on
fresh approaches to old problems and

Healthcare Design - December 2015

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