Designing the future of pediatric medicine

Boston Children’s Hospital

Hale Family Building

Boston, MA

In 1912, we broke ground on our first project with Boston Children’s Hospital. More than a century later, we’re partnering with the hospital again, this time to spearhead the largest expansion in its history.

Boston Children's Hospital Hale Family Building pediatric infant care room with flexible equipment

The 11-story Hale Family Building, which anchors the most ambitious reimagining of its facilities, addresses critical capacity needs and its delivery of high-level tertiary and quaternary care. With four underground floors, the building includes the expansion of acute care and critical care beds, diagnostic and treatment services, and clinical support services.

Exterior view of Hale Family Building, part of Boston Children's Hospital

A distinguishing design feature included the creation of interconnected indoor and outdoor garden spaces to act as preferred amenities and offer positive distractions for patients, families and employees in the middle of a dense urban environment of Longwood Medical Area.

The newly named Boston Children’s Benderson Family Heart Center, located on the 6th floor of the Hale Family Building, replaces multiple occupancy patient rooms with single patient rooms, optimizes the patient experience and creates a state-of-the-art comprehensive platform for cardiovascular services, reinforcing the Hospital’s reputation as a top-ranking Heart Center. Under the new unified platform, physicians and staff from all of the Benderson Family Heart Center’s disciplines will work hand-in-hand to provide comprehensive cardiac care for patients at Boston Children’s.

Biophilic interior landscape design in wide hallway of pediatric hospital

Interior play room of hosital with bright mural, child sized furniture, and accents

Photo courtesy of The Boston Globe

The clinical building resulted from Shepley Bulfinch’s 2015 Master Plan which addressed long-term strategies for healthcare service delivery on the hospital’s highly constrained core campus in Boston’s Longwood Medical Area. During the Master Planning process, Shepley conducted a ‘shadowing exercise’ for the Heart Center whereby the team observed and documented day-to-day activities of the clinicians. Full-scale cardboard mock-ups and simulations with the goal of improving patient safety and comfort influenced the planning process. Shepley Bulfinch has been involved continuously in multiple iterations of Boston Children’s Master Plan on Longwood Main Campus since 2008.

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Meet the Team

Andre Kamili, AIA, LEED AP

Principal

Andre is a senior member of the firm’s healthcare design practice, with a diverse design portfolio that includes master planning, clinical planning, design for academic medical centers and children’s hospitals.

David Meek, Assoc. AIA, LEED AP

Principal

David has over 30 years of experience in master planning and diagnostic treatment space planning for academic medical centers, children’s and other specialty hospitals.

Scott Mueller, AIA, ACHA, NCARB

Associate Principal

Scott is a senior healthcare planner with experience in medical programming, planning and design. He has worked extensively in ambulatory, inpatient and medical office building settings.

Sidney R. Bowen III, AIA

Consulting Principal

For fifteen years Sid served as the firm’s Managing Principal, with a focus on assuring that Shepley is successful as a business, able to attract and support talented professionals in service to its clients.

Uma Ramanathan, FAIA, LEED AP

Principal

With more than 30 years of experience in healthcare, planning, and design, Uma’s grasp of the rigorous demands of medical staff has been invaluable to her clients. She works effectively with high-level medical faculty and administrators to build consensus among diverse viewpoints.

Jennifer Aliber, FAIA, FACHA, LEED AP

Consulting Principal

As a senior member of Shepley Bulfinch’s Healthcare Practice Group, Jennifer focuses on programming, master planning, and clinical planning with an emphasis on the strategic, operational, and experiential requirements that drive space allocation.