A Nurturing Environment for Birth and Post-Birth Care

The Mother Baby Center at United Hospital in St. Paul was designed to deliver the trifecta of mother/baby care: top-tier clinical performance, targeted efficiencies to create an affordable care model and focused attention on the care spectrum from conception through birth for both low- and high-risk deliveries.

Key features of the Mother Baby Center include:

• Lighting enhances the spaces and the patient experience by defining the mood for the facility.
• The project team employed innovative communication tools and 3D simulation models to document patient, staff, visitor and physician flows and key decisions, communicate distinct design features and track project budgets. Family and provider focus groups provided critical input to create a financially sustainable, yet personalised family experience in an urban setting.
• The new centre is housed on four stories behind a curved glass façade, which peeks out from behind the existing facility. It is nestled in an existing building between Children's Minnesota and United Hospital.
• Two dozen patient rooms are treated as a neighbourhood comprising four sets of six rooms, each with a different colour scheme carried throughout each smaller “community.”
• Honouring the local context, the design team focused on the gardens of St. Paul and brought them in through the flowering trees for the super graphics.
• Sculptural ribbons were treated differently, with a more abstract flower shape and the light used enhances the space and the patient experience by defining the mood for the facility.