Nature Soothes at the New Vanderbilt Children's Hospital Looking for a design theme that could be healing and whimsical at the same time, Monroe Carrel Jr., the primary donor and namesake of the new Vanderbilt Children's Hospital, suggested "Nature in Tennesee." This theme now permeates the environment at the newly constructed VCH. There are gardens (the Friendship Garden at the hospital's entrance includes a 45 thousand gallon koi pond) and nature accents in the flooring. Of course, the wallcoverings, signage and borders also reflect the timeless appeal of nature. Each floor has its own theme and color-scheme, tailored to the needs of the children and families who will be occupying the rooms, yet appropriate for all ages and visitors. To convey the Nature in Tennessee theme, designer Molly Alspaugh used graphic icons inspired by nature - animals, plants, trees, stars and critters. The custom borders are a particularly unique part of this design. Custom Border Development: A Work of Community When sales representative Jennifer Petrouske of Singer Wallcovering saw the drawings of the floor plans that used swirls and stars, she said, "I can come up with a cusom border that would look fabulous with this design." Petrouske worked closely with designer Molly Alspaugh who drew the borders by hand then scanned them into Photoshop® to create a color image. The background swirl design was used in many of the borders, developing a continuity in the wall design throughout the hospital. The children on the PAC (Patients Advisory Committe, see below) also assisted in the border development. They reviewed all the graphic elements to make sure the images were neither too scary or juvenile. Finally, Rainbow Creations' Art Department developed strike-offs, adjusting design and colors just a bit so that perfection was achieved. The swirling pattern of water in the Fish Border mirrors the swirls in the floor (not shown). The Leaf Border which combines trees with small woodland animals uses some of the same screens as the Woodland Border (shown below) The Woodlands Border incorporates stylized images of native Tennessee animals on top of a swirling grassland background. Custom Wallcoverings Add a Sparkling Effect A surprising 169,842 linear yards of custom wallcoverings were sold to VCH for this project. Of this 92,001 l/yds were custom borders and 77,841 l/yds were custom wallcoverings. The custom wallcoverings are based on standard designs from the Whimsical collection (Secret Garden, Starry Night, and Holiday), but these stock patterns were each re-designed to co-ordinate with the unique VCH environment. "Bubbles" are added to the swirls of the Holiday design to create an underwater, pond-like accent or a frog and lilypad themed floor. The stars of Starry Night are subtly sparkly when printed with a metallic pastel ink. The Secret Garden pattern also receives a touch of the metallic and becomes a perfect counterpoint to the tree-themed floor. And perhaps the masterpiece of the custom wallcoverings is the Astral Stars design, shown below. Glow in the dark ink was used to print stars and planets over the dark blue ground from Vicrtex, Aviano Venice Sky, AV21-52. The end result of the new Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital is a more than a hospital. As a result of the wall and floor designs, the gardens, the pond and fountains, and the other environmental details, this 600,000 square foot facility is a comfortable and soothing place for families to spend a difficult period in their lives. Rainbow Creations was honored to have a part in this amazing project. According to Molly Alspaugh, “Rainbow Creations and Singer Wallcoverings were wonderful to work with during the entire process. Both teams were very willing to work until everything was ‘just right’!” For additional images, click on the thumbnails below.