trying awfully hard to give off a hospitality vibe
rather than a health-care vibe. Here, arriving families are directed to their destinations as others
say their goodbyes and make payments on elegant
electronic kiosks. The vast glass room is dominated by a white, cathedral-like ceiling. Made of
laminated wood and looking a bit like the ribs of a
whale, it is the first of many whimsical references
to Pinocchio. The beloved wooden boy’s story
inspires artwork and architectural details throughout the hospital. A series of paintings in one
hall depicts his plight, and colorful ceramic way-finding devices evoke the shape of his conical
cap, which even turns up as skylights (they’re
called Pinocchio hats) piercing the hospital’s
green roof. All of this is connected to MeyerArt, a
public program that asked artists to donate both
work and services for site-specific installations.
“The program has many, many facets, including incorporating art by children,” says Felicia
Cleper-Borkovi, the president of Anshen + Allen’s
London office. “It doesn’t talk down to the children. It’s quite sophisticated. Sick children tend
to be sophisticated.”
Given the unique nature of hospital competitions in Italy, where design teams must vie twice
to win a job, the collaboration between the firms
was unusually successful. “For the conceptual
phase, you compete on the basis of your portfolio
and your architectural design,” Cleper-Borkovi
says. “For the execution phase, you must show
you’re familiar with projects of this complexity
and can deliver technically.” Often one team wins
the conceptual phase and another the execution.
“What happens typically is the conceptual design
is watered down during the second phase,” adds
Derek Parker, a director of Anshen + Allen. But
the big idea here—placing the hospital, as Del
Nord describes it, “under the hill so that it could
be totally decorated with the environment and
with the landscape of the Tuscan hills”—prevailed
in both rounds.
Then came the hard part: crafting a functional
hospital that would set a higher standard of care
for children’s medicine in Italy. This is where
CSPE leaned on Anshen + Allen. Parker, who met
Del Nord at a health-care conference about a decade ago, is a nationally recognized leader in the
evidence-based design movement, a research-driven approach that attempts to measure the
impact of the built environment on medical outcomes, hospital efficiency, and staff and patient
stress. But the ultimate aim is more ambitious:
evidence-based designers (and their enlightened
clients) seek to humanize the continued on page 149
“It doesn’t talk down to the
children,” Felicia Cleper-Borkovi says. “It’s quite
sophisticated. Sick children
tend to be sophisticated.”
The site is a former tuberculosis clinic from the 1930s. The new hospital is
inserted into a hill. Below: Generous
Tuscan sunlight filters through
glazed skylights.
Site plan and floorplan, courtesy CSPE in association with Anshen + Allen; bottom left and bottom
center photo and rendering, courtesy CSPE; other images, Alessandro Ciampi/courtesy CSPE
FURNITURE
Above: A family room overlooking a
play area. Adults can relax and watch
their children below. The furniture is
soft and kid-friendly.
A patient room (far left) and a rendering (left) of a typical double room. Its zigzag outline (below) generates
bays for hand sinks and semiprivate areas for parents
and doctors to speak confidentially.
