Nationwide Children’s Inpatient Tower Expansion

Construction is underway for the expansion of the Nationwide Children’s Inpatient Tower. The construction manager, TWS (Turner, Walsh, and Smoot), is coordinating the concrete pouring for level one of the new facility, which will add an additional 750,000 square feet for what has been referred to as the “fraternal twin” of the existing inpatient tower. The design team, comprising HAWA Engineers, NBBJ, BR+A, EMH&T, and JGA, among others, is responsible for designing a facility that will provide care for children most in need of medical attention with therapies specifically tailored to inpatient care. This new space will enable Nationwide Children’s to equip the campus with the most advanced medical technology, establish new treatment centers, and expand bed capacity that would not be possible through retrofitting existing facilities. The care provided will include neonatal intensive care, pediatric intensive care, hematology, oncology, and bone marrow transplants, family support services, and an emergency department.

Comfort is essential for patient care and recovery. To create a comforting environment, many patient rooms will be built to accommodate families, complete with lounge chairs and private restrooms. The lobby will feature an interactive “magic forest” with animal and tree sculptures, similar to the one in the current inpatient tower, but with the addition of a butterfly diorama and theater space brought to life with audiovisual technology. The trademark colorful wayfinding and animal illustrations will decorate the corridors, families will have access to dining areas and lounges on every floor, staff will be provided with naturally-lit respite rooms to decompress, and a new 6-acre outdoor greenspace area will give visitors and staff access to fresh air in a relaxing environment.

Set to open in 2028, the new inpatient tower will stand as a model for the future of pediatric healthcare, and both its complexity and positive community impact have made it an exciting project for HAWA. For more information on how the patient tower will transform Nationwide Children’s ability to treat patients and continually evolve its capabilities, please refer to this news report.

“This project is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and it’s impressive how many team members are involved in the construction process. With a project of this magnitude, I have met a lot of different groups of people, each with a unique knowledge base that I would not have encountered otherwise. It has been a great learning experience to problem-solve together with those around me and to learn from everyone’s specialties. There is still plenty more building to do and problems to solve, but it’s exciting to see the progress thus far.” – Luke Harmon, PE, Mechanical Engineer.