Phase 1 Build Out

To address Rady’s most urgent capacity needs in its Intensive Care Units (ICUs) and Emergency Department (ED), ZGF is implementing phase one of the Master Plan—the new seven-story, 486,500 SF ICU and Emergency Services Pavilion.

It’s the largest construction project in the hospital’s 70-year history, adding 140 ICU beds and shell space for an additional 40 beds, a replacement ED with 84 treatment rooms, new operating rooms to support trauma and cardiac programs, shell space for the future relocation of the radiology department, a new lobby, dining area, family and staff amenities, outdoor gardens, and a new entry portal to the campus.

The new ED will nearly double the size of Rady’s existing ED, while the ICU Pavilion will consolidate Rady’s two existing neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) and provide a new home for comprehensive cardiac care.

Designing For the Extreme, During the Extreme

Designed completely during Covid, the project comes at a critical time as Rady experiences unprecedented patient volumes and challenges related to staff burnout, exacerbated by the pandemic. In a case of designing for the extreme during the extreme, ZGF was tasked with developing a building that meets the hospital where it is today and serves it well into the future.

ZGF’s concept for the ICU and Emergency Services Pavilion was aptly named “the beacon building” because it signified hope during a difficult time. Anxiety was high as families and staff worked to maintain social distancing and infection control. Care teams were at capacity both physically and mentally. Simultaneously the hospital saw tremendous growth in its high-acuity programs such as urgent care and behavioral health because families were not receiving primary care due to Covid.

The beacon building offers many solutions to many different users—an opportunity to right size clinical spaces and enable them to flex up or down, to implement all-private patient rooms, more outdoor spaces for waiting and respite, and a large new dining space, among other family and staff amenities.

Discovering San Diego

How will the beacon building help solve Rady’s current challenges while integrating cohesively into the existing campus ecosystem? It won’t be a new front door, yet many families and visitors will enter through the ED. ICU patients and families will also spend longer and more frequent stretches at the hospital, making campus cohesion and connection even more important. ZGF’s planning and wayfinding concept, “Discovering San Diego,” draws on the healing power of nature to allow families, staff, and visitors to experience the region’s natural beauty from different perspectives.

The building architecture is broken into legible layers of base-middle-top, comprising a simple family of forms invoking the portal Mission-style expression common in San Diego. These forms take cues from the existing campus vocabulary to bring down the building scale to the experience of patients, families, and caregivers. They also translate to the interior planning, design, and wayfinding.

ZGF engaged users early in the design process to learn about their experiences firsthand and use the findings to create a more comforting, engaging, and welcoming environment for patients of all ages and backgrounds. The resulting wayfinding approach is organized into three “Coves of Discovery” that celebrate San Diego: the Coastline, High Desert, and Low Desert. Each cove has its own animals, shapes, colors, patterns, materials, finishes, and lighting.

The project's experiential wayfinding approach creates a distinct sense of place for patients and families traveling from all over the world. The Coastline is defined by San Diego’s stunning, ragged edges, beautiful coves waiting to be explored, and wide range of water activities and wildlife. The High Desert and Low Desert represent two deserts meeting, characterized by the fascinating variety of plants and animals that make their homes in a land sculpted by strong winds, dark night skies, and surreal geologic features that add to the wonder of the wilderness.

Bed Unit Design

The geometry of the four-wing ICU Pavilion maximizes daylight and views from patient rooms to support healing and outdoor connections. Each wing has a patient care support core flanked by an east and west-facing row of patient rooms. A flexible middle row of patient rooms connects the north and south wings, resulting in a “chamfered X” plan and an iconic form visible from the eastern Freeway 805 and western Route 163.