We established the overall design direction for Cook Children’s Medical Center with the completion of its first main hospital building in 1989. Since then, that vision – make Cook a warm, welcoming building more like a hotel than a hospital, set in a sustainable and verdant campus environment – has carried the institution into the 21st century with recognition as one of the nation’s top pediatric care centers. The success of Cook Children’s Medical Center, now the largest independent pediatric medical center in the country, continues to bring with it the need for expansion. Since the original building was completed, we have continued to serve Cook Children’s as Master Planner and Design Architect for each of the nine major additions and auxiliary buildings on the main campus. The latest expansion, the new South Tower brings the institution to over 1.5 Million SF and 3,000 parking spaces.
The hospital administration remains convinced that the design and aesthetics of the institution, in addition to the advanced technologies and healthcare practices it employs, not only results in higher patient satisfaction levels and healthy outcomes, but also helps in recruiting and retaining some of the very best physicians and specialists in their respective fields.
With regard to CCMC, and specifically its original Main Hospital Building, former US Ambassador Tom Schieffer remarks,
“It was a building I loved from the very beginning because it had such a positive effect on all who came in contact with it. No child, no parent ever wants to be there. Yet, with the use of light, small scale and the hint of a magical surprise just around every corner, it lightens the emotional burden carried by all within its walls. It reminds us that hope and a smile will always be the best medicine.”
