Architects: Belzberg Architects
Area: 7,000 m²
Country: United States, Duarte, California
Year: 2017
Photographs: Bruce Damonte + Benny Chan/Fotoworks
LEED Certification: Platinum
Text description and images are provided by the architects.
As healthcare has evolved, so too has our understanding of health and well-being. More recently, there has been a shift towards a more holistic approach to healthy living that includes mental and spiritual well-being, and our relationship to the environment as preventative measures. For The Pavilion at the City of Hope (CoH), a leading research and treatment center for cancer, diabetes and other life-threatening diseases, our team set out to not only introduce a new architectural language on campus, but to also design environments that would support and encourage wellness.
The Pavilion is a LEED Platinum-certified, multi-use space at the heart of the CoH’s Duarte campus adding 7,000 square feet of new space for exhibits, events, administrative offices, and storage. The project uses the landscape to shape the built form and vice versa. The interior comprises two buildings that wrap around a century-old camphor tree to create an intimate, outdoor sanctuary that represents the nexus of CoH’s historic grounds.
Two billowing, sinuous concrete walls protect the entrances to either side of the Pavilion while subtly genuflecting and twisting to create seating to face an irregular, oblong bench around the tree. 75 backlit LED plaques along the surface of both concrete walls also highlight the City of Hope’s many milestones while leaving room for future accomplishments to be added. The buildings’ openness to the north avoids excessive heat gain and exposure, but also led to additional drought-tolerant planting to draw a strong connection between the occupants and the outdoors.
The Pavilion’s location re-aligns an off-axis promenade on the campus grid while alluding to the tradition of ‘wishing trees’ found elsewhere on campus and around the world. It continues to draw visitors from across the City of Hope’s community, offering respite and a place for reflection to support healing and wellness.
