If you follow our blogs religiously (you should) then you are probably aware that our class has been traveling to different hospitals around the city each week. Last week we were able to travel to Advocate's Illinois Masonic Hospital located right off the Wellington "L" stop in Lakeview. During this visit we toured around the Cancer Center and were privy to all of the different textures that Illinois Masonic has to offer. This may sound weird, looking at textures, but as an architect every part of the built environment, especially in a healthcare setting, is important to the individuals experiencing it. Illinois Masonic had some of the most textures that we have seen on our visits this semester with different reasoning and design intent behind each one.
The first texture that we all noticed wasn't even a texture at all, but more of the idea of a texture. It was these very large backlit rainbow colored panels that vertically cut through the walls as you travelled from the GI Institute to the Cancer Center. At first we had discussed how random these splashes of colors seemed, but after our tour began we started to understand a little more about them. These weren't random colors at all but instead an art piece designed by a chicago artist portraying 100 different pharmaceutical pills and the colors that they possess. The location of the artwork was also very well thought out. What seemed like large vertical bands were actually the spaces where elevator shafts for future expansion were located. This is a really clever idea to hide an element that most hospitals are designed with.
As we walked from the lobby thru to the cancer center we noticed a lot more textures around us. As one travels down the stairs from the ground level lobby to the check in for the radiation treatment floor one passes a very interesting while also very practical texture. I imagine that this texture could be easily misses due to the nature of the emotion one has as they begin to enter the cancer treatment floor. The texture is shown below. It continues the warm wood feel that is carried on throughout the center, but also has another purpose. Can you guess what it is??? (keep reading to see the answer).
If you guessed HVAC then you are right! When this building was designed there needed to be a way to circulate the air especially to the downstairs radiation treatment lobby all the way up to the double height ceiling of the infusion treatment lobby. The result was a design for a hidden space that would be covered with this punched out wooden paneling allowing both a visually appealing piece as well as continuous and controlled airflow.
Moving on! As we made our way through the radiation treatment center we were able to get to see the inside of a LINAC room. These rooms are very sophisticated and have to be designed with the direction of the radiation beams in mind. That being said, you wouldn't normally think of these rooms as being a designers dream, but this was an exception. Complete with 6 foot thick walls and a massive sliding concrete door this room was also equipped with textured wood paneling and teal paint. While it may not seem like a lot, it is very important for patients that are in these rooms to be able o feel relaxed. Some patients receive radiation treatment up to 7 times a week so they spend a lot of their time in these spaces. These spaces are difficult to design, but that doesn't mean we have to design them to be difficult to spend time in. I was able to get a snapshot of the wood paneling before we left so check it out below!
The last texture I want to show isn't as much architectural as it is science based, but since this is a studio about the sciences and lets face it science is all around us I thought it might be interesting to look at. Below is a photograph taken inside the LINAC room. It shows a customized plastic form that an individual receiving treatment must wear. The purpose of these mask looking objects are to keep the individual completely still and in the correct position while they are being treated. The radiology that is being shot at them is very powerful and it is extremely important that it be directed at the cancer cells and not normal cells. The process to make these is also pretty fascinating! IT starts with a sheet of green meshed plastic (similar to the mask below, but in a flat sheet). The sheet is then heated up just enough to where it will warp and is placed over the individual. After that the white band is placed around the mesh with the clamps that will be used to lock the patient into place. Each individual has their own mask custom made and placed in a locker for them to retrieve when it is time for their treatment. There has been a lot of talk about 3D printing and fabrication in architecture over the past few years, so seeing a technology like this start to actually help individuals with their fight through cancer was really interesting!
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