The Miller Children's Team
Miller Children’s Hospital Long Beach Opens the Doors on the New Inpatient Pavilion
On December 8, 2009, Miller Children’s Hospital welcomed the first visitors to its 124,000 square-foot expansion space designed by the Newport Beach architectural firm, TAYLOR. The celebration rightfully included a wide group of administrators, clinicians, patients and former patients, and their families, as well as the local government officials and members of the community. Many of those present had taken part in the initial visioning sessions, led by the TAYLOR planning team, six years ago in October 2003. It was through this inclusive visioning process that the sustaining theme for the inpatient expansion project — The Hero’s Journey and the Castle Refuge — emerged. The administration and the planning team knew the tangible needs of the hospital for dedicated pediatric operating rooms, an imaging center, expanded neonatal intensive care units and additional beds. What they wanted to understand were the dreams and desires of the patients and their families. The results of the session informed TAYLOR’s work on the new “anti-hospital,” a safe haven environment designed for and with children, the young heroes. “It was more than just bricks and mortar,” says Richard DeCarlo, chief operating officer at Miller Children’s Hospital. “TAYLOR sought to know what people were passionate about. Then, they embraced that and were able to achieve a design that really brought us beyond architecture.” “Children faced with illness have extraordinary perspective,” says Alyssa Scholz, TAYLOR children’s practice leader and a designer on the new Miller Children’s Hospital. “When we saw the environment the way they did, through their eyes, we saw how spaces could provide a needed refuge or a welcome distraction.” In addition to providing the state-of-the art pediatric facilities that will soon deliver lifesaving technologies and leading-edge services to young patients across the region, Miller Children’s modern-day castle is environmentally friendly in every possible way. From soil remediation to recycling construction water, from energy conservation to recycled materials, the architects at TAYLOR and their colleagues at Turner Construction used a flexible approach and alternative strategies to achieve remarkably sustainable hospital.
The new pavilion includes a dedicated pediatric surgery suite with seven operating rooms, a dedicated pediatric imaging center, an additional 24 completed neonatal intensive care beds with 24 more shelled in, and 24 general pediatric private patient rooms shelled in. These spaces, as well as outdoor spaces and interior lobbies, circulation and hospitality areas, are designed to engage the imagination of patients around the central theme. Design elements are targeted at distracting young patients, and making a stay at Miller Children’s as positive and non-threatening as possible.