Designing for empathy: Integrating biophilic patterns at Hope Plaza

Patients who come to City of Hope are typically living with diabetes or an advanced stage of cancer, visiting multiple times in a year, and sometimes even staying in a hotel on the campus. To best support the long-term community, the park features a range of amenities, including a large outdoor event space and sculpture gardens to walk through, meditation gardens, shade structures, outdoor pavilions, an outdoor dining terrace, and a calming yoga deck.

There are different landscape styles, including rose gardens and Japanese tea gardens, that promote biodiversity, color and fragrance to the landscape. Water detention arroyos across these amenities both create a sense of tranquility and serve as a sustainable design strategy. Connection across natural systems and the use of water features unite the campus while emphasizing biophilic design strategies.

Visitors experience the healing park and parking structure upon arrival on campus. Their journey is overlaid with moments of empathy along the way. City of Hope has a unique tradition of the “Wishing Trees”, where one can tie a note to the trees with a wish for a family member or friend. The design of the parking structure incorporates this tradition beautifully by creating a facade of notes made of metal panels, almost like an art installation. The panels flutter with the wind, creating an unexpected pattern that incorporates the biophilic principle of non-rhythmic sensory stimuli. The panels also offer thermal and airflow variability, offering comfort to those inside the garage.

The facility was conceptualized as a “boulder in a stream” with water eroding its way through the site, represented by an arroyo and detention ponds, and then moving into the building, where it carves out the public space and lobby on the ground floor.

The urban river wash, nearby mountains and the building's responsive design to the movement of the sun highlight the project's connection to the natural environment.

The exterior is conceived as a hard shell on three sides that protects the building from the harsh Duarte sun on the south, east and west facades, while the north facade is transparent, allowing more daylight to enter the building and offer direct views of the San Gabriel Mountains. This serves as a passive design strategy for energy efficiency as well as wayfinding, as visitors are naturally inclined to move towards the transparent area.

The interiors feature clutter-free millwork and well-integrated compartments, enhancing functionality and cleanliness. Art is thoughtfully incorporated throughout—from waiting areas to individual rooms and even blood draw spaces—creating a warm, human-centered environment.

Expansive views from lobbies, patient rooms and collaborative workspaces foster a sense of openness and connection to the outdoors. The design promotes an efficient and intuitive patient experience by streamlining spatial sequences into a “one-stop shop” model. Clear transparency and intuitive wayfinding further support ease of navigation. Additionally, computationally optimized shade structures not only enhance thermal comfort but also cast beautiful, perforated patterns that animate the floors with dynamic, shifting shadows throughout the day. This dynamic and diffused light infuses biophilic design principles to the patient spaces, creating a tranquil space designed around empathy.