Project Manager Ann and Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago, ZGF Architects LLP, Los Angeles, CA 10/06 to 2/09

1.25M gsf new children’s hospital, 25 stories, construction - $625M, total - $1B.

Resolving a very compact site was the first of many challenges at Children’s. Community pressure during the entitlement process resulted in the requirement that all vehicle maneuvering needed to enter and exit the site be accommodated on the already compact property, not in the congested surrounding public streets. By the time a truck dock, an ambulance dock, five drive lanes to accommodate daily arrivals of patients, visiting family members, staff shuttles from remote parking and valet parking all with adequate maneuvering space, an offset from Chicago Avenue to Superior street to bring the drives into alignment with the parking garage across Superior to the south and the elevator cores and structure from above, there was only room for the narrowest of lobby entrances to get people in the various entrances and to their respective elevators - emergency, staff, family/visitors, and there were still connections from the garage and Prentice Women’s Hospital next door to accommodate, not to mention a proper lobby with all associated program.

The resolution was to create a motor lobby at grade to act as a crossroads for receiving all flows of traffic, guiding them to necessary security and then to their designated elevator core for transport to a sky lobby on the 11th floor with a highly unusual 2nd floor Emergency Department. The motor lobby is two stories high with security for families and visitors on the second floor at the intersection of: the Emergency Department entrance; bridges from the parking garage across the street to the south and Prentice across the entrance drive lanes to the east; and escalators/elevators for those approaching from the ground level by foot or valet drop off. Staff come and go via their own separate, secure entrance at grade. Once at the sky lobby, visitors, patients and staff can access a host of amenities and services, administrative or academic spaces, or continue through security for access to the patient beds in the towers above.

The sky lobby and the Diagnostics and Treatment (D&T) floors between it and the ground are suspended over the entrance drive below by two story high trusses threaded through the mid tower mechanical floor. The north bed tower cantilevers off the D&T podium to occupy air space above the entrance drives to ensure adequate separation from the property line to the west to provide natural light and vent to patient rooms.

Accordingly, resolution of the site access rippled through the entire program, vertical stacking plan, massing and structure.