Part of a new 3,500sqm clinical building for Stoke Mandeville Hospital, the Children’s Emergency Department holds 12 treatment bays, 2 resuscitation bays and a new overnight observation ward. In typical A&E departments, the reality of investigations, medicines and procedures might be hidden from children, creating nasty shocks later on at the point of treatment. The Stoke Mandeville doctors and nurses briefed us, instead, to awaken children’s natural curiosities so they can anticipate encounters along their journey, helping to build trust in the adults they meet along the way.
Art in Site’s Chloe Northover-Naylor and Martin Jones began by creating a distinct identity for the Children’s ED, linked to the Maternity and Gynaecology Departments upstairs and to the Stoke Mandeville Hospital brand. Illustrations of friendly clinicians administering the most common procedures and investigations in ED, such as x-rays and blood tests, are set against soft coloured shapes, which children encounter on wall artworks, signage and maps.
