By Healthcare Facilities Today

Located on a remediated brownfield parcel in the Charlestown Navy Yard, the Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital in Boston is a new gathering place for the community — dedicating 75 percent of the first floor to public use and integrating with the Boston HarborWalk. The hospital incorporates inclusive design into every aspect of the facility.

The 262,000-square-foot Perkins+Will project addresses the needs of the widest possible audience, irrespective of ability, according to the designers. The entry is at street level; the reception desk is low and rounded; the 132 private patient rooms have custom cabinetry and automated shades, patient lifts, private bathrooms, and amenities such as private refrigerators, sleeping accommodations for family members and a wireless connection for patients and guests.

The LEED Gold-certified building is made of two connected sections — an eight-story patient tower and a three-story therapeutic gymnasium and pool. The building program includes outpatient services, a pool for aquatherapy, two large gymnasiums, an activities-of-daily-living suite, transitional patient apartment, and satellite gyms embedded on two inpatient floors.

Tied to the site's naval yard history, the gray materials of the facade are reminiscent of the military battleships and aircraft carriers berthed at the Yard for much of the 20th century. Ample use of glass curtainwall creates transparency and an abundance of natural light throughout the interior. 

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 perform physical therapy on a variety of different landscaped surfaces. 

In response to climate change, the main floor was raised one foot and all of the HVAC equipment was located on the roof.  Gymnasiums, multi-purpose rooms, and educational rooms utilize automatic operable windows for natural ventilation. Vegetated roofs mitigate storm water runoff and reduce cooling loads and heat-island effect. Gardens, views of Boston Harbor, and therapeutic terraces on the third and fourth floors serve as places of respite.