Mott Children's Center
Puyallup, Wash.
Zimmer Gunsul Frasca Partnership

A setting for children with neuromuscular disorders and developmental disabilities

© Eckert & Eckert

For more photos click on 'photos & drawings' above. To see the people and products behind this project click on 'people & products.'

By Sheri Olson, AIA

Noah’s Ark, a rich metaphor for Good Samaritan Hospital’s Children’s Therapy Unit and Child Development Center in Puyallup, Washington, suggests safe passage through difficult challenges. The architects sidestepped obvious kitsch to create a distinctive, noninstitutional setting for children with birth defects, neuromuscular disorders, and/or developmental disabilities, many of whom may visit the facility several times a week for years.

Like an ark, the bowed wood facade of the 42,000-square-foot children’s center floats in a 3-acre meadow on the edge of the hospital campus. Winding paths of crushed rock, smooth pebbles, and wood chips provide intentional challenges for children as they move from the parking lot to the entry. "The landscape and building are partners in therapy," says director Linda Yates.

Horizontal cedar siding wraps the curved 120-foot-long front wall—an unusual choice for a medical building but vital in establishing the center’s noninstitutional ambience. A series of portholes and a short bridge across a shallow moat to the front door evoke a nautical theme.

A two-story-tall lobby allows a glimpse of activities on the second floor and provides a generous waiting space for siblings who often accompany patients. From here, animal tracks sandblasted in the stained-concrete floor help kids navigate the building.

Just beyond the reception desk, a kelp forest rendered in fused glass enlivens the windows of the adjacent two-story-tall cylindrical hydrotherapy room, the centerpiece of the facility and the backbone of its circulation. Along the curved ramp and stairs that wrap the drum, 40 portholes bubble across the surface at child height for views inside of the nautilus-shaped pool. Within, a 9-foot band of gentle waves and giant seashells in glass-tile mosaic circles the room.

The large treatment room on the main floor contains the strongest ark imagery. Here, curved Glu-Lam beams and columns mimic the timbers of a wooden boat’s hull, creating a vaulted, light-filled space. A canted glass window wall that starts at floor level balances the project’s sense of refuge and prospect and allows children working on mats or low benches to have sweeping views of Puyallup Valley to the south.

Read more about this project in our Business Week/Architectural Record Awards section. See the July 2002 issue of Architectural Record for full coverage of this project.

Formal name of Project:
Dr. Donald & Beret Mott Children's Center

Location:
Puyallup, Wash.

Gross square footage:
42,000 sq. ft.

Total construction cost:
$8.6 million

Owner:
Good Samaritan Hospital

Architect:
Zimmer Gunsul Frasca Partnership
1911 2nd Avenue
Suite 800
Seattle, Washington 98101
206.623.9414 phone
206.623.7868 fax