Children’s Hospital, Boston (CHB) has commissioned Boston-based architectural and design firm Payette for its Binney Building project. The 10-story urban infill addition to the main hospital building will provide space for the emergency, radiology, same-day surgery, neurology, and pharmacy departments, as well as four new floors of inpatient beds. The design was conceived with LEED Silver goals.

Taking up 106,000 square feet, Binney Building will be using a faceted butt-glazed curtainwall that will modernize the surrounding streets while it simultaneously creates a pedestrian-friendly zone. The zone will have a two-story arcade along Binney Street, with an ambulance entrance on one end and a pocket park on the other. Green and yellow shades will be softly lit using an engineered fiber optic lighting system for a glowing mosaic effect at night. Patient units will be free-standing, and will also include their own support spaces, family resources, and play areas.

“Our strategy was not to compete with the complexity of the architectural vocabulary of the street, but for the building to distinguish itself with its simplicity,” Kevin Sullivan, AIA, principal at Payette, comments. “The intimate patient garden and the arcade and pocket park along Binney Street work to characterize a place defined by the energy of Children’s Hospital and nature, without resorting to pastiche.”

The addition will also include an interior courtyard for relaxation purposes. The Binney Building is deliberately designed so that the garden is the only viewable landscape from the corridors of the main hospital. Windows are designed to maximize the use of natural light.