El Camino Hospital

Spaces as Therapy

The new landscape master plan proposed by INTERSTICE Architects for the El Camino Hospital resulted in the transformation of two previously neglected spaces to create two new outdoor assets for rehabilitation: an Entry Garden and a Therapy Courtyard. The staff and facilities collaborated on the development of these two previously peripheral landscape areas—an old concrete utilities court and an abandoned ambulance drop-off—with a strong desire to integrate therapy activities such as mobility training and therapeutic gardening for patients, in addition to family visitation.

Garden Foyer

The new Entry Garden creates a pleasantly improved front door for the Inpatient Rehabilitation Center facility. The design relocated the former emergency vehicle parking area that served as the main pedestrian entry to the facility. Staff, patients, and visitors now approach through a garden setting with shade trees, pathways, and quiet seating areas for gathering and visiting with family. The under-utilized parking area was reconfigured to create a vibrant and inhabitable entry garden. Two crossing paths form simple braids—one that connects two stone seating area destinations and one that travels over varying surface paving types to a graduated sequence of steps and ramps meant for relearning mobility.

Health through Landscape

Size limitations and the residual layout of the existing buildings created a challenge for this project. However, a perimeter infrastructure of built-in planters, vine screens, trellises, and wooly pockets were used to create green surfaces which also defined and unified the landscape spaces while working within the parameters of the given space. Overhead lights are festooned across the courtyard with kick-mounted LED lights connecting and unifying the space with that of the nearby gym. The plants used in the Therapy Court were carefully selected both for seasonal change and attraction of butterflies and bird life. Annual vegetable plantings were included to offer opportunities for gardening therapy for patients seeking respite in the tranquility of outdoor spaces. The formerly unused landscape is now an integral part of the therapy regimens used to treat rehabilitating patients.