What is the new face of The Johns Hopkins Hospital?
The new face of The Johns Hopkins Hospital is a $1.1-billion construction project. The new hospital features two 12-story towers: The Charlotte R. Bloomberg Children’s Center, named in honor of New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s late mother, and the Sheikh Zayed Tower, named to honor the first president and founder of the United Arab Emirates. The two towers sprawl over five acres — or the size of five football fields. The building space itself covers 1.6 million gross square feet.
Our new address: 1800 Orleans Street, Baltimore, MD 21287
When did the new building open?
We opened to the public on May 1, 2012.
How do patients and visitors get into the new hospital?
The entrances to the new buildings are at 1800 Orleans Street. A circular drive allows families to drop off patients immediately in front of the entrance to the adult hospital or the children's, or either Adult Emergency or Children's Emergency. Valet parking is available. Ambulances enter the EDs through a separate covered area for emergency vehicles off Wolfe Street.
What about parking?
Secure, easy and convenient. Patients and visitors can park in the Orleans Street garage right across from the building. They can then enter the hospital via two enclosed, pedestrian above-street bridges connecting the garage and the hospital. One bridge takes visitors directly to the Bloomberg Children’s Center, and the other to the Zayed Tower for adults.
What will happen to the old patient areas?
The new building replaced more than half of our "historic" hospital space. Plans have not been finalized, but the old patient areas will mostly become faculty and staff offices, research labs, and training facilities. Some buildings will eventually be demolished.
What are some of the features of the new building?
- 560 private patient rooms, 205 of them pediatric and 355 adult
- The 205 pediatric rooms include 45 special beds in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) and 40 beds in the pediatric intensive-care unit (PICU)
- Of the 355 adult patient rooms, 96 are designated intensive-care rooms and 35 obstetrics rooms
- Three floors of operating suites with 33 operating rooms featuring the latest technology, ten of which designated as pediatric ORs
- Radiology suites with the latest imaging equipment, such as an intra-operative MRI machine suspended on steel beams allowing it to slide between ORs
- New adult and pediatric emergency rooms sharing trauma capacity with 69 private treatment bays and 17 observation beds
- The new pediatric emergency department is twice the size of the current one, with more than 40,000 patient visits expected each year. The Johns Hopkins Children’s Center is the designated pediatric trauma center for the State of Maryland
- Separate elevators for patient transport, allowing more privacy and smoother traffic flow
Are there any technological improvements or other innovations?
Many! The new hospital features the most advanced surgical and imaging equipment to ensure more efficient delivery of care and higher quality of care, as well as:
- An advanced air circulation system to improve outcomes by keeping airborne germs in check and preventing or reducing respiratory complications among vulnerable patients.
- A radio-frequency identification system that improve speed and efficiency of care by instantly locating and constantly tracking equipment in any corner of the hospital
- Noise can be distracting for physicians, nurses and staff, diminish the quality of care and compromise patient safety. Incessant loud noises, such as repeated overhead pages or nurse calls, can prevent patients from getting much needed rest. We factored all this into the design of the new building. The new hospital is sound-engineered to absorb and mute noise. It also features a quiet nurse-call system that eliminates the dreaded over-head nurse pages
What are some of the design features and other amenities?- Inviting exterior: The entire façade of the hospital consists of colored “shadow boxes,” etched with ceramic frit “waves” to add depth and give the illusion of movement.The composition and frit pattern, designed by New York-based installation artist Spencer Finch, were inspired by Claude Monet’s celebrated Water Lilies paintings. The shadow boxes are dominated by shades of blue on the children’s side of the building, and by shades of green, on the adult end
- Curated artwork throughout and soothing interior spaces: The designers opted for calming natural surfaces inside the building, including Greek marble and limestone walls.
- Feast for the eyes, food for the soul: The children’s tower 4-story atrium lobby distracts young patients with whimsical sculptures by set designer Robert Israel including a giant puffer fish family, an ostrich suspended from the roof of the lobby and a cow jumping over the moon. An impressive art collection featuring works by international and national artists is on display throughout the building
- Green space: The new building has green roofs and a series of gardens, including a meditation garden, designed by an award-winning landscape architect
- Private rooms: Each private patient room includes individual temperature control and a sleep sofa for family members wishing to spend the night with their loved one. All rooms will also have an interactive in-house television system including games, Internet access and access to movies. In addition to comfort, the new private rooms also allow for more efficient infection control by isolating each patient from the rest of the floor, decreasing the risk for pathogen transmission
- Food: In a very large new space, staff prepare nearly 12,000 meals a day for patients and meals on demand for pediatric and obstetrics patients
- Family and visitor dining: Patients, visitors and staff can enjoy a meal in the area connecting the children’s hospital to the adult tower, where Balducci’s, a gourmet food market based in New York City, operates a food court with a vista to gardens
- Concierge services, interfaith chapel, banking, conference rooms, auditorium, gift shop, food court, and more
What are the amenities for children in the new Bloomberg Children's Center building?- Playrooms on every floor — our Child Life Department believes that play is a critical learning and coping mechanism in childhood development. Play is particularly important for hospitalized children to help the child better understand and process the situation
- A two-story main play area featuring a basketballs hoop, giant movie screen and space for arts and crafts and other games and activities
- Sarah’s Garden, made possible by a donation from the Wilhide family, whose daughter, Sarah, died in 1989 at the age of 3. Born with a heart condition, Sarah underwent two cardiac surgeries at Hopkins Children’s. The garden’s design is inspired by images from Sarah’s favorite book, “The Little Prince”
- A separate children’s meditation room, requested by pediatric patients, and a children's library
- An interactive television network featuring, movies, the internet and in-room video gaming