The Center for Cancer Prevention and Treatment

When the St. Joseph Hospital in Orange decided to build a new cancer center, their patients were the inspiration.

When one has to deal with, what could be considered one of the hardest things in life, cancer, this hospital has tried to bring some sense of peace to their lives with the interior design of their new building. The new Center for Cancer Prevention and Treatment has been up and running for two years.

As I mentioned before, the inspiration for the interior design concept was to make the patients and their families feel that they are in a healing environment where they can feel peaceful and at home while they wait and receive treatment. When you enter the building, one doesn’t get the feeling of stepping into a hospital setting. The overall theme is nature and serenity. The products, materials, color scheme and lighting they used contribute to the nature inspired center.

I decided to focus on the Radiation Oncology center that is one floor below when you enter at ground level. Upon entering, the flooring used is a light unpolished stone, a good choice to an entryway for its easy maintenance and clean up. They transition to carpet as you reach the stairs and down into the radiation oncology floor.

Carpet is used throughout the waiting area; it is low pile, solid colored carpet so not to conflict with the rest of the design elements in the room. Carpet was a great choice as it gives a warmer feeling to the space and for the added cushion it gives ones feet. They transition to a high low patterned carpet as you go through the hallways to the treatment rooms. The patterned carpet was a nice design element to add to an area that is simpler in design.

Let’s go back, as we came down the stairs to the oncology floor, the adjacent wall to the stairs has an over scaled photo of a flowing river over rocks with the hospitals mission statement. Playing off the photo, the staircase rail guards are a tempered glass with a water effect pressed into it and are in a transparent blue, allowing light to pass through.

They have also used rough, exposed stone on the lower half of the walls as an accent. These elements expand on the over scaled photo brining it down and into the waiting area of the oncology.

The waiting area is carpet throughout. It is low pile, solid in color so not to conflict with the rest of the design in the room. Carpet was a great choice as it gives a warmer feeling to the space and for the added cushion it gives ones feet. They transition to a high low patterned carpet as you go through the hallways to the treatment rooms. That was a nice design element to add to an area that is simpler in design.

Another way they brought nature into the space was in the use of petrified palm trees. They are placed around the center bringing in the outdoors. They also have incorporated skylights in the building to allow the natural sunlight in. The lighting plan was a key element in adding to the mood of the center. They have used sconces and accent lighting within the center as their primary source of light than the conventional overhead lighting. Though overhead fluorescent lighting is still used, it is kept to a minimum. The combination of the two allows for a more home like setting.

A lot of thought went into the radiation rooms to try and help the patient feel calm and not overwhelmed. They are large and open; a beautiful serine garden image is on the ceiling for the patient to look at while they are laying receiving treatment. Also in the room, they bring into play the water pressed glass once again, it is inset into the wall and lit from behind to serve as an illusion of a window. They also incorporate these “windows” into waiting area as well on a feature wall.

As we begin to look at a few pieces of furniture, I was told that patients were given surveys on what they would like to have for the treatment room chairs. I thought this was perfect! I mean, they are the ones that sit in them for over an hour receiving treatment, it only makes sense that they should be the one’s to have a say. They also got to test chairs out. This is truly listening to your client.

Back in the waiting area, the furniture layout allows for plentiful seating. They have used armchairs, a sofa, and accent tables to once again bring the feeling of being “at home” to the space. The armchairs and sofa seats are not deep seating to allow for minimal effort to exit from the chair.

To allow for some privacy in the seating arrangement, they have used a 3form product as a patrician. It has a thatch pattern pressed in-between two pieces of plexi-glass. It is opaque, allowing only light through.

Though not a product, material or deign of the interior, I feel it necessary to mention where they are doing their part in going GREEN. They have begun the process of going paperless. Their goal: be completely paperless come March of 2011.

I have battled with cancer in my family; it is never an easy time for anyone who is touched by it. I hope that when new patients and their families come to the center, they feel, even the slightest, sense of peace in their hearts as I did during my tour. They are the reason this interior design is successful.

Resources:

St. Joseph Health System

David Headland

Information Systems Coordinator

Radiation Oncology

Julie Britton

Director of Contracting/Business Development for St Joseph Hospital