ABSTRACT
Pediatric healthcare facilities must respond to the unique medical, social, and emotional needs of children of all ages and their families. All too often, health-care services for children are fragmented in different locations and are provided by different caregivers, resulting in challenging experiences for children and their families. Time in the hospital can significantly disrupt children’s development by interfering with their ability to play, learn, and grow through the same means as their peers not undergoing treatment. While a children’s hospital may treat a range of conditions, it is important to recognize that children are not a homogenous group and have distinct needs according to age. The concept of the hospital in a garden provides a framework for a design language that responds to children without becoming cartoonish, utilizing variations in scale, color, and form to create positive distractions for patients. The concept of creating neighborhoods of beds benefits patients as well as staff.
