One of the main challenge faced while designing the $200 million Wolfson Children’s Hospital Adult Tower was to blend it with the rest of the medical complex. Over the 50 years, the campus has seen a combination of a variety of styles of institutional architecture being evolved. The new tower design is an attempt to bring unity to the existing site.
The tower will be distinct with a roof garden on the third floor. It will not be open to the public, but patients will be able to see the garden from their room windows. This is expected to promote the healing process.
The officials are also considering installing LED lighting for the building and planning to collect the condensation that will form on the structure to be used for irrigation.
Wolfson Children’s Hospital was opened in 1955 as a wing in the Baptist Medical Center Downtown (former Baptist Memorial Hospital) with 50 beds. In 1971, its operations were consolidated into a separate facility with the name, Wolfson Children’s Hospital (WCH).
With the new tower addition, the Baptist Medical Center will get two operating rooms for pediatric and adult services, and it can expand its adult neurological and pediatric cardiovascular surgery practices.
