Theme Sculpture Gardens at the Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital
The newly expanded $1 billion Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital project at Stanford University is adding 521,000 sq. ft. The expansion includes a new main building, 149 new hospital rooms, treatment rooms, new surgical areas, and two themed interactive sculpture gardens. The two play areas, the Emerald Garden and the Dunlevie Garden, were designed to provide children and their families a place to interact, play, reflect, and experience the outdoors together. The result is a more holistic approach to healing.
Features of the Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Sculpture Garden Play Areas
The rooftop Dunlevie Garden includes a variety of activities that provide varying degrees of stimulation. The sculpted dinosaurs and banana slug offer simple climbing opportunities, while the two-story tree structure, puma den, and burrow allow children to pretend to be the wild animals that inhabit these environments. A sundial, a simulated rockwork coyote planter, and an animal sculpture circle round out the unique experiences in this rooftop garden oasis.
While the Dunlevie Garden evokes a Northern California experience, the Emerald Garden is inspired by the Pacific Ocean. A large slide element with sea star sculptures, as well as artistic shrimp, sea lions, and sea otters (provided by a local artist and installed by COST), offers an ocean wonderland play environment.
COST’s Scope of Work in the Play Area Project
COST was contracted by the project designer, Aesthetics, to partner in the design process. Our scope included shop drawings for the play elements and scale models of each item. The drawings were a working tool for the project team, allowing them to fine-tune the pieces prior to fabrication. Once approved, each piece was either meticulously hand sculpted or machined by a 5-Axis CNC and readied for shipment. COST construction crews were contracted by a local general contractor to install all the theme work fabricated internally, as well as the pieces supplied by other artisans. Once the sculptures were installed, COST completed the play safety surfacing.