NewYork-Presbyterian
Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital
Pediatric Emergency Department
New York, NY

35,000 sf • In association with Poltronieri Tang & Associates

As part of our ongoing work for The Children’s Hospital of New York, Davis Brody Bond completed programming and full architectural services for a new Pediatric Emergency Department. The two-level 35,000 square foot facility totally reconfigures existing laboratory and office space and adds a dramatic and highly visible streetfront entrance. Davis Brody Bond’s design accommodates the Emergency Department’s enormous growth over the last decade. The new location allows for private transfer of patients via elevator directly to bed units and diagnostic and treatment functions, streamlining the connection between pediatric trauma team and trauma suite.

The interior design features boldly-colored supergraphics by Sol LeWitt, which animate the soffits and catch the eye from the street. In the spaces below, the graphics continue the children’s literature theme used in the inpatient building. Reception and nursing stations are designed as a children’s library and feature child-accessible bookshelves. Waiting areas include family reading nooks and a storyteller’s room. Fifty treatment rooms (forty private and ten specialty) feature illustrations from beloved children’s books and artwork by children from the surrounding community. Since the vast majority of Emergency Department visits take place in the evening, the ceiling design uses night sky imagery.

The new Emergency Department achieves a set of crucial goals for Children’s Hospital, including: (1) Effective accommodation of patient load during high admittance periods; (2) reduced wait time for examination and treatment; (3) Improved staff morale and retention through enhanced work environment; (4) Improved location of equipment and medication to minimize staff time away from patients; and (5) Improved efficiency through new technologies such as wireless nurse call and paperless charting.

(Photography by Paúl Rivera)