Medical environments can often feel cold and sterile, so how do you construct a high-tech space that calms kids and comforts parents? When our client asked us to integrate a new pediatric imaging suite into a 1920s-era building on their campus, we considered both the physical and emotional journeys that young patients and their families would take.

Located on the third floor, deep within a century-old healthcare campus, the 9,175 square foot renovation was designed to delight and distract the children and families coming in for care.

At its core, the suite’s purpose is to look within the human body, revealing what can’t be seen by the naked eye. Our design team wanted that idea to be carried throughout the design of the space. Across the pediatric campus, nature serves as a unifying theme, expressed through imagery and motifs unique to each department. Building on that, we drew inspiration from nature’s patterns and cellular structures, translating them into abstract graphic elements that connect nature to the medical imaging procedures taking place daily in the department

The resulting environment is both kid-friendly and welcoming. Natural patterns integrated into wall graphics and ceiling panels help communicate to children the idea of imaging, while biophilic colors throughout the space create a sense of calm for pediatric patients and families alike. Silhouettes of trees guide them through the building and up to the suite. Inside, daffodils, oak leaves, and butterflies brighten the waiting area—revealing the natural structures hidden beneath the surface, much like the unseen bones and organs captured through MRI, CT, or ultrasound imaging.

Carefully calibrated lighting adds warmth and reassurance, lessening the anxiety and uncertainty associated with clinical spaces. By engaging the imagination and soothing the senses, the new imaging suite helps reduce stress and minimizes the need for sedation, leading to more positive experiences and better outcomes.

Not only did our team need to make the space feel welcoming, but we also needed to integrate a high-tech imaging suite into a 1920s-era building with just 12 feet floor to floor. In addition to providing a waiting space, private consult room, nurse station, treatment rooms, and support spaces for patients and staff, the design had to accommodate the placement of a 15,652-pound MRI machine. An 80-square-foot exterior wall section was removed from the building to install the MRI and special construction was required to ensure that the machine’s powerful magnets could operate without interference.

The project has been welcomed by staff for the playful and vibrant yet functionally efficient space. Equally, visitors feel welcome to a place that feels more like a space of discovery than an institutional healthcare environment.

Design: Perkins&Will
Contractor: Knutson Construction
Furniture Dealer: Schmidt Goodman
Photography: Corey Gaffer Photography