Manning Family Children’s NICU, New Orleans
Manning Family Children’s in New Orleans is expanding its Level 4 neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) to support highly specialized, collaborative care teams serving premature infants as young as 22 weeks’ gestation.
In addition to upgrading equipment and support facilities, the 33,400-square-foot project triples the NICU’s current square footage and increases bed count from 35 to 60. The new unit, expected to open in spring 2027, includes single and double patient rooms, parent/infant rooms, multi-patient bays, a milk lab for breast milk collection and storage, and a family respite lounge.
A calming, acoustic ‘lullaby’ design
The project team, including Kennedy Kraft Architects (New Orleans), takes the hospital’s music-centered design theme and interprets it at a quieter register for the NICU’s fragile patient population. The resulting “lullaby” concept shapes every design decision, from materials selection to lighting strategy to spatial sequence.
Specifically, adjustable, indirect lighting minimizes glare throughout the unit, and acoustic ceiling materials dampen ambient noise—conditions particularly essential for premature infants sensitive to light and sound.
A largely neutral color palette establishes a calm atmosphere, while small touches of purple reflect the wayfinding color assigned to the NICU’s floor in the hospital’s broader design system.
A rippling soundwave floor pattern runs through the unit, referencing the lullaby concept while simultaneously aiding family wayfinding. The pattern transitions as occupants move through the space: more active near the waiting area and entry, smoothing and stretching as it approaches the patient corridors and rooms.
Support functions are organized off a central corridor, further buffering clinical spaces from noise and disruption.
Manning Family Children’s NICU project details
Location: New Orleans
Expected completion date: spring 2027
Owner: Manning Family Children’s
Total building area: 33,400 sq. ft.
Total construction cost: Not disclosed
Cost/sq. ft.: Not disclosed
Architect: Kennedy Kraft Architects, APAC
General contractor: Woodward Design+Build, LLC
Engineer: IMC Consulting Engineers, Inc.
Medical equipment planner: Peti and Company
Art consultant: P-l-a-i-d, Inc
Project details are provided by the design team and are not vetted by Healthcare Design.
