• Client NYC Health and Hospitals Corporation
    Location New York, NY
  • Client NYC Health and Hospitals Corporation
    Location New York, NY
  • Client NYC Health and Hospitals Corporation
    Location New York, NY

Long Term Care Skilled Nursing

Henry J. Carter Specialty Hospital Skilled Nursing Facility

Challenge

Covering an entire city block, the Henry J. Carter Specialty Hospital & Nursing Facility features the renovation of an existing hospital to be repurposed as a Long Term Acute Care Facility  and a new 185,000 SF Skilled Nursing Facility.  Serving a unique demographic in NYC, unlike other Skilled Nursing Facilities throughout the country, many of the residents stay for over 10 years, so the design of the building needed to create a sense of place for residents not only in their individual room but also within the entire facility and extending into the neighborhood at large.

Solution

While many of the residents are ambulatory, a large percentage are diagnosed with mental disabilities resulting in confusion and disorientation.  We incorporated wayfinding and navigation elements in the design so residents could move throughout the facility without assistance or disorientation.

Result

Each resident enters a ‘personal streetscape’ when exiting the elevator on their floor.  By incorporating bold colors and large scale graphics depicting imagery from the community of East Harlem, each resident’s sense of place within the building, as well as within the larger community, is reinforced.  The entry to each resident’s room features an area of personalization, assuring them that they are home. The Skilled Nursing Facility has been awarded LEED Gold status for its commendable efforts to practice and promote sustainability.

Collaborators

Geddis Architecture
Gilbane Building Company
Kallen & Lemelson
Lahkani Jordan
Reuther & Bowen