Great Ormond Street Hospital | Gretel Mitchell

Lead Interior Architect with Llewelyn Davies Yeang

While at Llewelyn Davies Yeang, created the Interior design strategy for the new £90m Morgan Stanley Clinical Building at Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children.

The design set a new benchmark for 'green design' in UK hospitals. The building is spread over eight stories and includes a new cardiac unit, theatres, plus renal and neurological units and is serviced by a range of hi-tech green technologies.

The interior design strategy was formulated around the concept that our environment plays an important role in healing and as such the design aimed to create a friendly, relaxing and interesting atmosphere that children could relate to or be distracted by.

The wayfinding system, created by Landor Associates, used playful and cheerful wall graphics as a guide for families and visitors to navigate the complicated hospital. Each building and floor was marked with a distinctive color and habitat from the natural world - from the ocean (lower level) to the skies (upper level).

The reception area and arrival point of each floor welcomed the children and families with colourful desks and playful images of animals and their habitat.

Art work was used extensively throughout the hospital engaging the children and their families. Many of the pieces were interactive which created an amazing distraction.

The new restaurant, café and catering area serving the entire Great Ormond Street Hospital community includes a Disney interactive play area and the capacity to seat up to 280 people. The idea for the rainbow concept as the main feature in the restaurant was one both children and adults could relate to – its bright colours and magical connotation along with the deeper meaning of something positive at the end. The colorful and bright architectural feature running across the ceiling presented a calming attraction into a magical and friendly place. Theceiling feature was constructed with the Barrisol translucent fabric back lit by 14,450 LED nodes producing an impressive and aesthetic display. The lights could be controlled to adjust the ambience and suit the needs of the space at any given time.