Springfield Clinic Pediatrics, Springfield, Ill.

Facing pediatric departments in aging buildings with dated interiors, Springfield Clinic (Springfield, Ill.) embarked on a project to build a new facility to house all its pediatric services. From the onset, the project team, including The Lawrence Group (St. Louis), sought to create a building that would help distract children and reduce anxiety—starting from the moment they pull into the parking lot.

“You put a kid in the right environment with kids they don’t know, and all of a sudden, they all get on the same wavelength, and they’re ready to play,” says Tom Fitch, Springfield Clinic’s vice president of facilities, real estate, and construction. “I feel like this facility developed a personality for positive play.”

Child-friendly clinic design

Opened in October 2023, Springfield Clinic Pediatrics in Springfield, Ill., houses multiple services over two floors including general pediatrics, dermatology, lab, and radiology. A playful design and elements of distraction are infused throughout the 41,500-square-foot center, beginning with the arrival sequence and continuing throughout exterior and interior spaces.

From the parking lot, approaching the building, floor-to-ceiling windows into a two-story lobby entrance provide transparency, offering glimpses at the playful design, including colorful silhouettes on the walls of children playing.

Two 25-foot-tall kinetic sculptures outside near the entrance have multiple moving parts and provide a point of interest.

Putting a playground slide in a healthcare building

Inside, the facility’s interior features pops of primary and secondary colors in the furniture, signage, and graphics as well as playful accents. For example, the imaging suite features a constellation theme on the walls, inspired by the idea of laying outside and looking up at the stars, and patients can select the color of the changing LED lights.

One of the more unusual design elements came during a brainstorming session with the project team on what kids like to do and where they like go, Fitch says. “We just kept going through that thought process, and it was like, ‘Well, kids love to go down the slide … Why couldn’t we put a slide in this building?’”

Julie Steffens, director of interiors at Lawrence Group, which served as the architecture and interior design firm on the project, says the idea stuck. To bring the play item into a clinical environment, the project team considered different styles and materials, such as metal, tube, or plastic, before choosing a finished wood, which added warmth to the space.

Located at the entrance to the two-story lobby and adjacent to a stairway, the slide is one of the first features that visitors encounter.

And it’s not just young patients enjoying it, Fitch says. “I’ve seen numerous times where one of our physicians is going down the slide with a patient,” he says.

Clinic layout strategies

With the variety of positive distractions housed at the new clinic, the project team was strategic about the placement of play areas, buffered by quiet and restorative spaces such as a café across the lobby entrance from the slide.

Additionally, waiting rooms feature a variety of seating types—from soft benches and stools to armchairs and sectional couches—and groupings to create comfortable spaces to encourage children and parents to sit together.

“We were able to create communities, areas where we could separate more quiet or restorative areas from some of the spaces that are more active,” Steffens says.

Springfield Clinic Pediatrics project details

Project location: Springfield, Ill.

Completion date: October 2023

Owner: Springfield Clinic

Total building area: 41,500 sq. ft.

Total construction cost: $23 million

Cost/sq. ft.: $554

Architect of record:  Farnsworth Group

Design architect: Lawrence Group

Interior designer: Lawrence Group

General contractor: O’Shea Builders

Engineers: Veenstra & Kimm Inc. (civil), Hanson Professional Services Inc. (structural), M/E 1 Engineering (MEPFPT)

Landscape: Massie Massie + Associates

Builder: O’Shea Builders

Art consultant: TOC Artwork

Furniture: Lincoln Office

Art/pictures:  TOC Artwork

Carpet/flooring/base: Shaw Contract, Interface, Mannington, Tarkett

Ceiling/wall systems: Armstrong, Clipso

Doors/locks/hardware: Serenity Sliding Doors, Negwer

Fabric/textiles: Designtex, Arc-Com, C.F. Stinson, Carnegie

Furniture—seating/casegoods: Steelcase, OFS, ERG, Spradling

Wall Protection: Construction Specialties, Inpro Corporation

Lighting: G Lighting, Lithonia Lighting, LZF, NuLite, ALW, Lightology, OCL, Prudential Lighting, Moda Light, Acclaim Lighting, Mitzi, Focal Point, Juno

Signage/wayfinding: Coordinated by Springfield Clinic

Surfaces—solid/other: Corian, Hi-Macs, Cambria

Wallcoverings: Wolf Gordon, Inpro Corporation

Terrazzo (Floor, Base, Stair Tread): Missouri Terrazzo

Tile: Daltile, Platform Surfaces, Roca

Glass Tile: Island Stone, TileBar

Light Boxes (Cast Resin): 3-Form

Slide: Adventure Solutions

Fish Tanks: Tank It Easy

Window Treatments: Draper

Project details are provided by the design team and not vetted by Healthcare Design.

 

Robert McCune is senior editor of Healthcare Design and can be reached at [email protected].