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The Alberta Children's Hospital eschews the typical sterility of a medical centre in the name of its patients — a direct result of feedback obtained from the hospital's young clientele. The 750,000-square-foot, Kasian-designed facility is the product of a collaborative effort between the project's numerous stakeholders, including health care providers, user groups, construction contractors, and the patients themselves, who all came together to make the hospital a little less fearsome.
The user-oriented hospital was dubbed the "lego building" by a local nine-year-old, "because that's where they put children together again." It's easy to see why that name jumped to mind — the exterior is awash with rectangular splashes of colour, reminiscent of a Piet Mondrian painting. Oversized windows are framed by yellow, red and blue squares that inevitably draw comparisons to a toy box.
The initial design for the hospital that went public in 2002 depicted a substantially different design, showing a multi-storey brick building. When the sketches were presented to the hospital's specialized advisory group, the architecture changed from dark and opaque to bright and cheery. The bold and bright colours serve to reduce stress, promote healing, and bring character to what would have otherwise been a conventional and muted design.
Focused on the delivery of family centred care, the hospital is outfitted with sleeping facilities for parents in each room, a sacred space, a pet visitation room, and several green spaces, including an apple orchard, that give patients and their families a place for respite and healing.
While it might not exactly be a masterpiece of architecture, the 2006-built facility does what it ought to in providing a safe and uplifting space for its patients, and remains one of the best examples of user-driven design in the country.
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