Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital

Project Details

Project Description

The new 262,000-square-foot Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital is a state-of-the-art healthcare resource for patients, families, and the community at large. The Charlestown facility expands the offerings of the current 35-year-old hospital at Nashua Street and features 132 private patient rooms, large common areas open to the community and a thoughtful design that promotes wellness for people with disabilities.

Located on a remediated brownfield parcel in the Charlestown Navy Yard, the building is a new gathering place for the community – dedicating 75 percent of the first floor to public use and integrating with the Boston Harborwalk. Once part of a timber receiving basin, the landscape design incorporates reclaimed timbers throughout the site and takes full advantage of waterfront views of the Boston skyline. A trail running along the waterfront features therapeutic equipment and offers patients the opportunity to encourage the healing process by performing physical therapy on a variety of different landscaped surfaces.

Tied to the site’s naval yard history, the grey materials of the façade are reminiscent of the military battleships and aircraft carriers berthed at the Yard for much of the 20th century. The scale of the building is visually reduced by dividing the structure into two connected sections – an eight-story patient tower and a three-story therapeutic gymnasium and pool. The building can be viewed from all sides – there is no back. Each section of the divided structure utilizes a variety of materials to create visual interest and reveal a slightly different building from each angle. Glass curtainwall is generously integrated into the design creating transparency and an abundance of natural light throughout the interior resulting in an atmosphere that is open and inviting.

-- via Perkins+Will