Chicago Children's Hospital Launches Pioneering Study On How Creative Spaces Help Healing

CHICAGO, Oct. 24, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Researchers at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago, formerly Children's Memorial, are embarking on a pioneering study to understand the extent to which healing spaces promote health and healing during hospitalization.   A major focal point of the study will be the Crown Sky Garden, a 5-thousand square foot garden on the 11^th floor of the 23 story hospital. The garden, named in honor of Chicago's philanthropic Crown family, includes dozens of bamboo trees, an interactive wall that changes colors as people walk by and carved benches made from trees planted by Frederick Law Olmsted (designer of the famed Central Park) for the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago.  

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"There has been little work on understanding the role of respite spaces in children's hospitals and I believe this study will have a significant impact on how hospitals are designed in the future," said Paula Crown who had a leadership role in the development of the unique garden. 

Lurie Children's is partnering with the internationally-recognized Center for Health Design to examine the impact of hospital design on stress levels in hospitalized children and their parents.

"One of the things we know about children is that they need to be engaged in addition to needing a quiet place," said Jenifer Cartland, PhD, director of the Child Health Data Lab at Lurie Children's, and the study's principal investigator. "There is a lot of activity in the Crown Sky Garden that give children a break from the hospital setting including the wooden benches that emit sounds of animals and nature when you walk by."

World-renowned landscape architect Mikyoung Kim worked closely with the Crown family in carefully designing the playful natural oasis. "As a mother myself, and someone who is married to a pediatric radiologist, I have lived with medicine most of my life and could relate to what the Crowns wanted to achieve," said Kim. 

The Crown Sky Garden brings in a needed connection to light, sound, water and wood elements.  The blue translucent interactive light wall that weaves through the garden represents the Chicago River and changes color and brightness as people approach it. Eco-friendly bamboo planters divide the space to allow for active use as well as a more quiet respite. 

"When I first came to Chicago I studied the city and wanted to incorporate parts of the it into the garden, that is why we have the interactive light wall that is soothing and reflective of the Chicago river," said Kim.  "The challenge was to make sure it was interactive enough but designed to minimize touch so not to spread germs." 

Lurie Children's is also part of the Pebble Project, a group of 50 hospitals worldwide that are committed to studying specific innovations in hospital design. Research on the Crown Sky Garden will be shared with other hospitals as they move from conception to design in their own spaces.

Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago is a state-of-the art hospital located on the campus of its academic partner, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.  The hospital is ranked as one of the nation's top children's hospitals in U.S.News & World Report. The hospital relies on philanthropic support to care for more than 148,000 children each year.

SOURCE Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago