The internationally recognized Yale Child Study Center (YCSC) had needed a single, centralized, permanent home for all its operations almost since its founding a century ago. Previously spread out across multiple locations in New Haven, Conn., YCSC functions as the Department of Child Psychiatry for Yale School of Medicine and Yale-New Haven Health, conducting research into behavioral health for children and teens and treating approximately 60,000 outpatients each year.
The stakeholders ultimately agreed on a project to transform the building at 350 George Street in New Haven, which offered sufficient usable floor area to house the entire YCSC program and is in close proximity to the Yale-New Haven Hospital campus. The building had formerly housed a telephone company exchange and later a call center. The structure and its interior would require extensive architectural interventions and a dramatic makeover in its journey to becoming the now sunny and welcoming home of YCSC. The project team collaboration aimed to adapt the 55,000-square-foot building in a way that would consolidate all YCSC activity, provide space suitable for medical treatment and research and, in the words of one of the clients, “create a space equal in quality to the services provided.”
In the end, with its biophilic design elements, variety of spaces, colorful furnishings, thematic wayfinding, sensitivity to privacy, and integrated artwork, the completed facility is praised by the clients as especially welcoming for young patients and their families, setting the tone for positive behavioral healthcare interactions and desired outcomes. But the road to success had its fair share of challenges.
Existing Architecture
Given the building was originally designed to support telephone exchanges and communications technology, miles of cables had to be removed. But perhaps more challenging was the fact that the existing structure limited architectural options for raising ceiling heights in many interior areas. Additionally, the building featured few window openings, making the prospects for introducing natural daylight a tricky proposition. Faced with these challenges, the team’s strategy was to take advantage of any and all opportunities to apply cost-effective approaches to making the building more human-centered, chiefly by allowing the existing architecture of 350 George to inform choices for programming and design solutions.
For example, the project team chose a second-floor location for the main waiting area where the height of a large, continuous area of ceiling could be raised uniformly. This allowed the architects to adapt the existing conditions to create an open and welcoming atmosphere. Similar considerations, as well as access to natural light, led the team to determine the location of the “Main Street” corridor leading from the waiting room to treatment rooms and secondary waiting rooms. The team located circulation areas and private waiting rooms serving clients and their families in areas where new window openings could be introduced, providing these spaces with exterior views and natural daylight.
Biophilic Design
The design team’s next major decision was thematic. YCSC’s new home needed to be an environment designed to instill a sense of calm and comfort for staff and caregivers, as well as children of varying ages and behavioral needs. Incorporating nature-themed graphics, integrated artwork and wayfinding elements—a biophilic approach similar to many shown in studies to positively impact patients’ receptivity to treatment and care—reflects a core tenet of the architect’s philosophy applied across a wide range of project types, especially in the health-care and K-12 education sectors.
Most notably, the wood stair leading up from the double-height lobby features a colorful overhead sculptural installation, which depicts a shimmering school of fish, curated by a consultant partner, Art for Healing Environments LLC. For children and families arriving at 350 George, the sculpture introduces the nature theme that continues throughout while encouraging use of the stairs instead of the elevator. Once upstairs, they are greeted by a waiting room that features colors and finishes chosen to evoke the outdoors. A ceiling installation of white curvilinear acoustic panels hung from a cerulean ceiling suggests the sky. Meanwhile, one overt gesture hides a structural column: a full-height tree “sculpture” composed of wood veneer and laminate. Combined with natural wood-finished reading nooks and donated books, the waiting room was designed to comfort visitors, reduce the stress associated with a medical appointment and welcome all into the healing environment.
Nature themes continue into the hallways with wayfinding elements, such as names for exam and treatment rooms, like Forest A-227, and ornamental light-boxes in the hallways that reinforce these themes. Smaller family waiting rooms in treatment wings feature windows and thematic finishes, built-in banquettes, whimsical pouf seating, and picnic tables and Adirondack chairs to emphasize the connection to the outdoors. The design concept also strategically positioned waiting nooks along the building perimeter where natural light permeates.
PHOTOS: WOODRUFF/BROWN ARCHITECTURAL PHOTOGRAPHY, COURTESY SVIGALS + PARTNERS