Nationwide Children’s Hospital has broken ground on the centerpiece of the institution’s downtown campus expansion — a new, 12-story, 700,000-square-foot main hospital building. With the oldest city park in Columbus adjacent to the hospital and bounded by disadvantaged neighborhoods, FKP Architects’ design concept will enhance and embrace the neighborhood through the creation of a “hospital in the park” concept. When complete, the hospital campus will enhance the health and wellness of children and serve the community with the addition of valuable public park amenity.

Clinical features include an emergency/trauma center expanded to double the size of the current facility; a 40 percent increase in the size of patient rooms; and a floor dedicated to pediatric intensive care, cardiac intensive care and transplant.

The interior architectural design will continue the "hospital in a park" concept through the creation of "the River," which will serve as the primary public circulation running the entire 1,300 feet from the new facility and connecting all major buildings on the campus. A unique "bow-tie" patient room design will optimize views into rooms for caregivers, while providing expansive views into the adjacent roof gardens, the city, and hospital park. The corridors on the patient room floors are being designed exclusively for use by patients, families, and staff. Separate "off stage" circulation and supply system corridors are being developed for "back of house" movement of materials.

The new hospital is scheduled to open in 2012.

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