Johns Hopkins Hospital

Johns Hopkins Hospital

Johns Hopkins Hospital was founded in 1889 as a teaching hospital and biomedical research facility. It has long been regarded as one of the world’s most outstanding health care institutions. Today, the facility continues to uphold its reputation by constantly striving to improve and excel in the medical field. As part of the Johns Hopkins’ goal to modernize for the 21st century, they decided to remodel their 1977 Nelson/Harvey building which is used mainly for private patient rooms. Normally, when decorating the new building, interior designers could spend up to six months looking for art to adorn the walls. Art is very important in the design because it acts as positive reinforcement for patients, families, and staff and gives them something more pleasant to think about. However, for this building, designers knew they had to compete with daily traffic and abuse—taking framed art out of the equation—plus they only had six weeks to complete the art design and production process.

The Design Challenge:

Johns Hopkins’ designers needed a substrate material that was scratch resistant, chemical resistant, and Class A fire rated. They also wanted the graphic art to feature the unique and beautiful gardens and landscapes found in Maryland from the mountains to the Atlantic Coast. Each floor was to feature large scale murals in the main elevator lobbies with the flowers and plants from different regions in the state. In addition, time was of the essence. The team needed the murals designed, produced and installed in a timely manner to meet their building opening deadline. To solve their problem, the design team partnered with ATI to create custom art that could withstand daily cleaning, bangs and bumps by equipment, as well as daily wear and tear.

ATI's Solution:

After consulting with ATI, the team chose LuxCore Plus. The substrate provided all the necessary features and its translucent, textured quality was perfect for ATI’s Fusion printing process—which allowed the large scale art to be fused into the back of the substrate and be protected by LuxCore’s durable, “pre-distressed” fiberglass surface. Johns Hopkins’ design team and their environmental graphic artist, Keith Kellner, worked closely with ATI’s in-house creative team to perfect the creative, colorful images. Through sampling, ATI and Johns Hopkins fine-tuned the colors and design within the allotted time frame. In all, ATI worked with Johns Hopkins’ design team to produce seven different designs featuring colorful floral images such as tulips, black-eyed susans, and peonies to coincide with the different floors. The patients, visitors and staff are now greeted by the larger-than-life bright and sunny murals. It’s a delightful discovery, adding an unexpected joyful and healing experience to what is often a stressful situation.

The three-part main lobby mural was the most complex and time sensitive, and one of the most important feature designs to be developed. It depicts the new Nelson/Harvey façade with the Billings building’s famous Johns Hopkins Dome reflection. It is blended with snippets of the floral elements from each level, tying the past and present history with the garden designs and setting the tone for the art murals on the floors above. Not only did ATI assist the team every step of the way, but its product versatility and nimble service have also proven to be exactly what JHHS was looking for. They are already planning future projects using LuxCore Plus with Fusion as a versatile resource.