Guerin Children’s pediatric inpatient unit is located within Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. The 26-bed unit advances a vision for children’s healthcare where each patient’s holistic experience is deemed a vital aspect of their care and healing outcomes.
The 23,000-square-foot unit—designed by HGA (Los Angeles) along with Cedars-Sinai’s planning, design and construction teams—delivers care across pediatric specialties. Those include neonatology, maternal-fetal medicine, gastroenterology, cardiac services, orthopedics, neurology, pediatric surgery, and kidney transplants.
Separate zones are created for adolescent and pediatric patient populations. The unit also comprises a variety of spaces that support clinical outcomes and the overall well-being of its patients and their loved ones.
For example, patient rooms are designated as “safe zones,” meaning no treatment or procedures occur in the rooms themselves.
All patient rooms include a full pullout bed as well as a reclining easy chair that lies flat so two caregivers can comfortably stay overnight. Supportive common area amenities, such as a family lounge complete with a kitchenette and showers, bring a sense of home to the medical environment.
Design decisions were guided by how children experience the world around them, leading to a “choose their own adventure” design schema. This allows patients to interact in the unit’s spaces through technology, art, media, and both hands-on and virtual play.
Interactivity screens throughout the unit provide options from watching movies and playing video games to programs for creating artwork and playing with digital stickers.
Hallway walls integrate technology that can display the digital artwork created by patients and professional artists alike. Furthermore, these walls can host character animations. These animations sense movement and “walk” alongside patients down the hallway to put them at ease throughout their journey.
The design includes sophisticated design elements that appeal to a wide age range of pediatric patients. Wood paneling in lighter tones can be found along corridors as well as at headwalls and footwalls, providing an elevated finish that is reminiscent of a residential environment. The playroom and family reception area are also covered in this finish, but are juxtaposed with bright colors in the box window seats with matching fabrics.
Color and playfulness are balanced with a timeless elegance to ensure the unit does not feel childlike, yet still engages young patients.
Project details for Cedars-Sinai Guerin Children’s:
Location: Los Angeles
Completion date: August 2022
Owner: Cedars-Sinai Medical Center
Total building area: 23,000 sq. ft.
Total construction cost: Undisclosed
Cost/sq. Ft.: Undisclosed
Architecture firm: HGA
Interior design: HGA
General contractor: Layton Construction
Engineering: Affiliated Engineers Inc. (MEP); Degenkolb Engineers (structural)
Builder: Layton Construction
