Perth Children’s Hospital

Perth Children’s Hospital opened its doors two years ago. Since then, the facility has provided world-class healthcare to children and young people, all while inspiring interest and play through its design.

Designed from a child’s perspective, Perth Children’s Hospital (PCH) employs a playful design approach to reduce anxiety for patients, families, and carers – creating a welcoming environment.

Opened in 2018, PCH is a specialist pediatric hospital that provides world-class health care to children and young people up to age 16.

The almost 300-bed facility incorporates family facilities, operating theatres, mental health facilities, neonatal intensive care beds, staff amenities, and retail space.

A high-dependency unit for high-risk patients and greater capacity for new technology, such as intra-operative MRIs, are also accommodated.

PCH replaced the outdated Princess Margaret Hospital which was over a century old.

The design represents a huge iteration in what a children’s hospital looks and feels like, providing a place that is de-institutionalized, fosters human connectivity, and has links with nature.

Perth Children’s Hospital is a result of a collaboration between the State of Western Australia, Cox Architecture, and their project partners JCY Architects and Urban Designers, and Billard Leece Partnership with HKS Inc., and managing contractors John Holland.

Almost 200 designers were involved in bringing this project to fruition.

A project of this scale is a truly collaborative process.

The facility is patient, family and staff focused, ensuring healthcare is provided to all levels of users.

The new hospital provides tertiary-level pediatric health services and secondary health services, including inpatient, outpatient, and ambulatory care.

The hospital includes significant increases in outpatient and day-stay capacity, family facilities, operating theatres, mental health disorder facilities, neonatal intensive care beds, staff amenities, and retail space.

Colour played a key role in creating a ‘wonderland’ and minimizing the stress associated with hospital visits. This includes delights such as lowered window seats, pops of vibrant colour, and visual treasures hidden at the level of a child. In a children-first approach, seating pod areas are not just for sitting, but for climbing, hiding, and exploring. Staff stations are disguised as treehouses.

Driving along Winthrop Avenue, the animated lighting of artist Stuart Green’s “fizz” sculpture combined with the green façade instantly identifies the children’s hospital. Vast areas of north-facing glass enable children and families to catch a glimpse of the sculpted forms, artwork, and play areas on their journey to the hospital, reducing anxiety upon arrival.

The incorporation of a double-skin façade on the east and west façades (which houses most of the clinics, laboratory, and teaching spaces) allows for open views to Kings Park but also controls glare and heat. The façade changes over the course of the day, as the motorized louvers open and close, tracking the sun path.

The design team started by anchoring the Hospital to its unique surroundings. The nearby flora and fauna of King’s Park inspired a concept for the building based on petals and a stem. The building’s form also emerges from an ideal layout for patient observation.

The atrium space at the heart of the hospital is a hive of activity and wonderment. It is easy to find the playful main reception desk inside the main entry with no visual impediments to seeing small children. Looking up into the atrium, suspended mobiles reflect sparkles of light, providing a cascade of kinetic petals throughout the day. Rolling and bulging balconies around the central space suggest a place of play rather than sickness.

Cox Director Fernando Faugno led the design team and said:

‘The composition of the building is directly inspired by nature. The elegant floral forms of Kings Park have been key in the general, shaping of the building and the curvaceous sculptural forms carry through the general theme of the architecture.

The design has a gentle flow which adds to its humanity and sense of welcome.

The fanning petals house the children’s ward, maximizing natural light and views to the south and east. Each petal offers every room natural light and vistas to sky and land.”

Project Awards

Commendation Award, Public Design Category, Australian Interior Design Awards 2019
Best of State, Commercial Design category WA, Australian Interior Design Awards 2019
George Temple Poole Award, Australian Institute of Architects WA 2019
Jeffrey Howlett Award for Public Architecture, Australian Institute of Architects WA 2019
Julius Elischer Award for Interior Architecture, Australian Institute of Architects WA 2019
Wallace Greenham Award for Sustainable Architecture, Australian Institute of Architects WA 2019
Finalist, Health – Completed Buildings, World Architecture Festival (WAF) 2019
Finalist, Use of Colour Prize, World Architecture Festival (WAF) 2019

Project Details

Project size – 78,000 m2
Site area – 26,737 m2
Project budget – $1.2 billion
Completion date – 2018
Building levels – 12

Project Team

Architecture

Cox Architecture in association with Billard Leece Partnership, JCY Architects, and HKS Inc (part of the John Holland Consortium).

COX is a design-focused contemporary architectural practice with studios located in every major Australian city and a history spanning 60 years.

The key to their ethos is supporting the public life of our cities. Cox does this by ensuring each project makes positive contributions to its public realm – giving more than it takes.

www.coxarchitecture.com.au

Key Consultants

John Holland
Aurecon
Norman Disney & Young
Newforms Landscape Architecture
Philip Chun and Associates
Buro North, Diadem
PCD Consultants

Photography

Shannon McGrath

Shannon McGrath has been photographing architecture and interior design works for 15 years.

She is commissioned by pre-eminent architects and designers around Australia for her ability to get under the skin of a project, and not only capture its pure essence but also her client’s formal design intent.

Passionate and professional, Shannon’s images are known for their beautiful portrayal of light and form, with a soft realism that celebrates the subject matter.

www.shannonmcgrath.com