Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts

Firm's role on the project: Landscape master plan and enhancement of interior environments.
 

The landscape master plan and enhancement of interior environments along the The Pike should harness the healing power of nature, improve way finding, provide places of respite and positive distractions for patients and visitors and include nutritious food offerings.

A main artery branded The Pike (after the Massachusetts Pike) connects multiple buildings and serves as the primary path of travel across the campus. New construction has led to increasingly complex, confusing and crowded way finding and increased the distance from the parking garage to clinical destinations. Signage to remedy the problem adds to the visual clutter with reliance on staff for directions which research shows is costly.

An interdisciplinary team:  Klopher Martin (landscape design), Cloud Gehshan (way finding), NBBJ (architecture), Bruner-Cott (architecture), and CAMA, Inc. (interior design) developed a vision.  Designed from the patient's point of view, the concept of optimizing the "time between" that patients and visitors spend between medical events emerged.  The hypothesis was: offering convenient and unique evetns along The Pike would increase patient satisfaction.  An article in the New England Journal of Medicine reveals "patients said that they nonclinical experience is twice as important as the clinical reputation in making hospital choices" (Goldman et al., 2010).

Harness the Healing Power of Nature - An extensive landscape master plan will rebrand the hospital, soften the property edge, ease the transition from outside to inside and increase the visibility of three major entrances and parking. Underutilized exterior spaces will be repurposed as healing gardens including a large plaza leading to a main historic entrance. Future programming to strengthen community connections and promote health includes farmer’s markets, concerts, and brown bag picnics. A possible partnership with Boston’s Emerald Necklace Conservancy to distribute a “health map” to visitors would highlight walking paths and accessible gardens on and off campus.

Improve Campus Legibililty and Ease of Way Finding - An improved campus map and mobile website will coordinate with electronic directories and kiosks with a seated concierge and roving wellness ambassadors. Interior landmarks will display art by local artists along with portals accentuating clinical destinations, and a simpler signage system to encourage independent navigation.    

Provide Places of Respite for Patients and Visitors - Recommendations include easing ambulation by offering benches, mobility devices, and handrails; moving offstage operations to another floor; providing places for active rest with charging outlets and furniture to support reading, writing, and computing; and providing places to replenish including restrooms, hydration stations, snacks, and views of nature. 

Nutritious Dining - A cafeteria renovation and future food venues along the Pike will create unique food experiences with a range of menu options to include vegetarian and international cuisines, cooking displays, grab ‘n go options and healthy dessert options with multiple dining areas featuring communal tables, counters and stools, lounge chairs and tables.