Located atop a 16-story hospital patient tower, the Ruth and Carl J. Shapiro Pavilion offers distinctive services and amenities to patients in the atmosphere of an elegant club or hotel. The Pavilion suite is a private, exclusive, and secure environment that can accommodate the business and personal needs of patients who have extraordinary demands for privacy and discretion.

The Pavilion consists of six radial, pod-like units—a configuration that focuses staff attention on patient needs and creates a pattern of intrasuite access. Intrasuite access maximizes the potential for privacy, permitting each patient, his/her entourage, and medical staff to move within the patient suite without having to travel a central corridor. Although the patient care standard is unvarying throughout the hospital, this configuration allows medical staff to reside within the suite, providing immediate care when patients are recovering from medical procedures—an important consideration for international patients for whom privacy may be a cultural imperative, as well as the preference of business executives and political leaders. If warranted, each unit can be linked to another to form an expanded unit.

The Pavilion’s design was developed as a thoughtful response to the needs of a diverse, international patient population. Furnishings and materials were selected for beauty, comfort, and appeal to patients who hold diverse cultural precepts and aesthetic convictions. Color, texture, and spiritual connotations were carefully considered as they impact the perception of the architectural space as a healing environment. Amenities, including custom millwork, were designed to promote comfort and relaxation. Warm wood features and abundant natural light impart a residential quality to the suite, while the integration of information technology within each suite supports the 24-hour personal network and professional affairs of patients with wide-reaching responsibilities. Each patient care unit offers a view of the Boston skyline and surrounding neighborhoods from a bedroom; a private bath based on the European model; a kitchenette; and a separate office lounge/family area.

Project category: Single space or feature (completed July 2001)

Chief administrator: Christine Collins, Director, Patient Access Services, (617) 732-3680

Firm: Cannon Design, (716) 773-6800

Design team: Robert Peterson, AIA, Project Principal; Richard Hrycaj, AIA, Project Manager; Kathleen Wendt, Interior Design Principal (Cannon Design); RG Vanderweil Engineers, Inc.; William A. Berry & Son, Inc.

Photography: David Farrell, Farrell Associates Photography; ©2002 Richard Mandelkorn, Richard Mandelkorn Photography

Total building area (GSF): 6,000

Construction cost/sq. ft.: $291.66

Total cost (excluding land): $5,600,000