Texas Children's Hospital: Design as Therapy

Texas Children’s Hospital (TCH) is a world-renowned children’s hospital facility “located in Houston, Texas, [and] is a not-for-profit organization committed to creating a community of healthy children through excellence in patient care, education and research. [They] are proud to be consistently ranked among the top children’s hospitals in the nation.” Texas Children’s Hospital commits to daily caring for their patients with a quality that is unlike any other hospital. While this dedication to quality health care is essential, the hospital makes other efforts to maximize quality and experience that should not be overlooked.Texas Children’s Hospital works tirelessly to ensure that the quality of health care provided to patients and their families is matched and encouraged by an environment that is conducive to healing, in addition to creating positive experiences for their child patients. Texas Children’s Hospital worked with FKP Architects to create an environment of bright colors, large geometric shapes, family friendly play rooms and examining rooms, and a variety of other design aspects that encourage a positive environment. The design used in this hospital is unlike the simple, white walled, and clean cut designs of many other hospitals and the differences seem to have significant impacts on the children and families visiting the hospital. This design is important for the health and healing of the patients by encouraging positive attitudes and feelings about their visit or stay in the hospital. FKP Architects and TCH are leaders in pediatric design and have found great success in their warm and inviting design approach. While the impact of this design on children and their families is most important, it is also essential to understand rhetorical situation, as this paper focuses on the impacts of the rhetorical situation created by the design of the hospital on patient experiences. The analysis of the rhetorical situation created by the design of TCH includes the history of both FKP Architects and TCH, as well as understanding the context, audience, and exigence of the text itself.