This 15,500-sq.-ft. acute care pediatric unit will accommodate a demand for pediatric beds at Miller Children’s Hospital. The unit will add 27 beds including four private, 10 semiprivate, and three negative-pressure isolation patient rooms.

The bright patient rooms include oversized bathrooms with showers. Two semiprivate rooms are equipped with overhead lifts for transporting bariatric patients directly from their beds to the bathroom facilities. The unit also includes physical rehabilitation, a staff lounge, and a waiting area. The facility will serve patients from 4 to 17 years old. The design theme was inspired by the sights and sounds of a metropolitan city and its heroes, such as firefighters, police, and EMTs.

The nurse’s station was designed with vibrant, kinetic digital-light panels that continuously change colors and resemble dynamic city lights. Bold colors were also used in the translucent privacy-screen panels.

The corridors feature custom flooring with unique patterns inspired by our city’s traffic lights. The floor pattern is continued throughout the space and acts as an accent to the dramatic colored room portals. Each portal features a different color (blue, green, yellow, or purple) and supports the unit’s wayfinding.


Project category: Remodel/Renovation (completed April 2007)

Chief administrator: Terry Belmont, CEO, (562) 933-2000

Firm: TAYLOR, (949) 574-1325

Design team: Architecture and Interior Design, TAYLOR; Mechanical/Plumbing Engineering, DCGA, Inc.; Electrical Engineering, FBA Engineering; General Contracting, Tiller Constructors

Photography: Ryan Beck Photography

Total building area (sq. ft.): 15,500

Construction cost/sq. ft.: $239

Total construction cost (excluding land): $3,700,000

For gurney-bound patients, the corridor ceiling was transformed through perforated-metal ceiling tiles and indirect linear-light fixtures; it emulates the “white stripe” found in the middle of city streets.

This new unit will also serve as the prototype for the hospital’s new 120,000-sq.-ft. Pavilion project.