INTERVIEW ROOMS, SITTING ROOMS, WAITING AREAS, ADOLESCENT SHARED FACILITIES AND THE HUB
Dress for the Weather, Andy Campbell and Matt McKenna
Daniel Rutherford, Manager of the Children’s Hospital Charity Drop-in Centre (The Hub)
Bespoke Atelier, Design Studio
Client: Multiplex Construction Europe Ltd. and NHS Lothian
Funded by: NHS Lothian Charity’s Tonic Arts Programme
Edinburgh Children’s Hospital Charity
Glasgow based design team Dress for the Weather (Matt McKenna and Andy Campbell) researched how people use support spaces and how they might make consultation and waiting rooms more comfortable and inviting.
Dress for the Weather enhanced consultation rooms in subtle ways. “We changed the brighter clinical lighting to softer down-lighting which is concealed behind pelmets running around ceiling. We also created mood lighting with wall lamps. We felt it was important to work with real materials: stone, concrete, metal and wood. We added metal tables with Jesmonite tops to create a sense of order in the room. Jesmonite is a concrete substitute and we used it to create a terrazzo style with stones that were picked up on a series of engagement walks around Lothian with patients and families. The tables have two levels because this is something staff flagged as being important. There’s a high part for staff making notes and a lower part for the family. This makes the space less like a consultation and more natural and comfortable.”
Textile designers Bespoke Atelier developed a pattern of animal and plants during workshops with young people
The attributes that might well seem ‘invisible’ are invaluable at enhancing patient dignity. Sorrel Cosens (Capital Planning Project Manager, NHS Lothian) says that one of the things she likes the most about the new Interview Rooms are the, “little design features. For example, Dress for the Weather proposed putting a mirror in so people can brush their hair, wipe their eyes and just check their appearance before they go back to their loved one’s bedside or leave the hospital."
Other spaces included the Acorn Rooms, two rooms forming part of the Child Protection Unit designed to enhance privacy and distraction and The Hub,A flexible meeting, dining and work space for young people and their families.
Two spaces were designed for teenagers, one for socialising and one for study as vibrant and colourful spaces. Dress for the Weather also worked with textile designers Bespoke Atelier who developed designs with young people through a series of workshops.
