Public Realm for a Hospital Campus
New York, NY
Soft-Firm consulted on the reimagining of the public realm for a hospital campus in Manhattan. The existing campus takes up a full city block, connected by a warren of passageways below street level and sky bridges above. The interior of the block is informally programmed and not widely accessible, used for storage and hospital overflow with some areas for seating. Patients and hospital staff also use park space in the public housing complex across the street.
The client envisioned a long term vision for the campus that improves connectivity and wellness, and relates the quieter West side of the campus (adjacent to Central Park) to the nondescript and logistically complex East side of the campus (adjacent to the public housing complex). Their intent was for the hospital community to cultivate a stronger relationship to the broader community: to be a good neighbor.
Soft-Firm collaborated with the client team to conceive of a preliminary masterplan that connects the East and West side of the medical campus through outdoor common space on the interior courtyard of the campus block with integrated with zones for storage, required hospital support, and staging areas for ongoing construction and maintenance projects. In designated “pocket parks,” The team envisioned programming focused on public health for the hospital community and beyond, such as test drop-offs, outdoor classrooms, and opportunities for public art engagement.
Soft-Firm developed a geometric architectural language for canopies and pavilions that speak to the hospital graphic identity that can be easily adapted and deployed for campus improvements in the future. Strategies for modular furniture, layered color and texture, landscape, lighting, and wayfinding at multiple scales provide intuitive cues for moments of respite along clear circulation paths, focused on creating alternative healing pathways in a dense urban condition.
In a nearer term, Soft-Firm focused on the public space and circulation flanking the major renovation of an existing Cancer Center by architectural firm KPF. On the north side of the new Cancer Center, Soft-Firm envisioned an expanded threshold to what is currently the main entrance to the hospital campus. Currently the entrance is set back from the street - Soft-Firm designed a canopy that extends into the right-of-way to provide protection from outdoor elements and further announce it as a primary entrance. On the south side of the Cancer Center, Soft-Firm created a secondary threshold over an underutilized raised podium space, creating an outdoor room for both the campus community and broader public.
Soft-Firm researched precedents for right-of-way improvements in Manhattan to make recommendations for curb extensions, sidewalk materials, landscape, and lighting and furniture elements in the hospital’s public right-of-way.
Visualizations with @Jamie Latimer
New York, NY
Soft-Firm consulted on the reimagining of the public realm for a hospital campus in Manhattan. The existing campus takes up a full city block, connected by a warren of passageways below street level and sky bridges above. The interior of the block is informally programmed and not widely accessible, used for storage and hospital overflow with some areas for seating. Patients and hospital staff also use park space in the public housing complex across the street.
The client envisioned a long term vision for the campus that improves connectivity and wellness, and relates the quieter West side of the campus (adjacent to Central Park) to the nondescript and logistically complex East side of the campus (adjacent to the public housing complex). Their intent was for the hospital community to cultivate a stronger relationship to the broader community: to be a good neighbor.
Soft-Firm collaborated with the client team to conceive of a preliminary masterplan that connects the East and West side of the medical campus through outdoor common space on the interior courtyard of the campus block with integrated with zones for storage, required hospital support, and staging areas for ongoing construction and maintenance projects. In designated “pocket parks,” The team envisioned programming focused on public health for the hospital community and beyond, such as test drop-offs, outdoor classrooms, and opportunities for public art engagement.
Soft-Firm developed a geometric architectural language for canopies and pavilions that speak to the hospital graphic identity that can be easily adapted and deployed for campus improvements in the future. Strategies for modular furniture, layered color and texture, landscape, lighting, and wayfinding at multiple scales provide intuitive cues for moments of respite along clear circulation paths, focused on creating alternative healing pathways in a dense urban condition.
In a nearer term, Soft-Firm focused on the public space and circulation flanking the major renovation of an existing Cancer Center by architectural firm KPF. On the north side of the new Cancer Center, Soft-Firm envisioned an expanded threshold to what is currently the main entrance to the hospital campus. Currently the entrance is set back from the street - Soft-Firm designed a canopy that extends into the right-of-way to provide protection from outdoor elements and further announce it as a primary entrance. On the south side of the Cancer Center, Soft-Firm created a secondary threshold over an underutilized raised podium space, creating an outdoor room for both the campus community and broader public.
Soft-Firm researched precedents for right-of-way improvements in Manhattan to make recommendations for curb extensions, sidewalk materials, landscape, and lighting and furniture elements in the hospital’s public right-of-way.
Visualizations with @Jamie Latimer
