Southwest Tower

A journey of play and learning within a specialty outpatient center

Client: Rady Children's Health
Location: California, United States
Size: 300,000 square feet
Status: Completed

A celebration of playfulness, curiosity and healing, the nine-story Rady Children’s Health Southwest Tower houses several specialty services, centralizing them in one location near the larger Rady campus, formerly CHOC.

The tower includes five floors of outpatient specialty clinics, a research institute floor dedicated to clinical trials and pediatric research, oncology infusion services, a comprehensive imaging center and other vital resources and amenities for children and families.

Bringing a wide range of specialties under one roof makes care more convenient for children who visit multiple departments and their families, while fostering greater collaboration among the clinics.

Designed to complement the nearby Bill Holmes Tower, completed in 2012, the new tower boasts vibrant colors and biophilic elements that reflect the varied natural landscape of southern California. Anchoring a prominent corner in Orange, California, the tower features a distinctive red and silver facade, accented by dynamic lighting woven into its solar fins. These illuminated fins are clustered close together at the building’s primary corner, gradually thinning and tapering off toward the edges, which creates a shimmering, kinetic effect as the building is viewed in motion.

The interior design sparks imagination, encourages learning about a range of health topics and creates interactive experiences that make a visit to the doctor less intimidating. The tower is designed as a place where pediatric patients can heal and learn simultaneously and where specialty physicians can collaborate more readily.

Learning moments occur throughout the building, both in public spaces like lobbies and in private areas like exam rooms. These include immersive wall graphics (centered on the healthcare system’s mascot, Choco the Bear), multi-lingual illuminated niches for respite and learning, and interactive waiting areas where children can play and learn about wellness topics such as sleep, nutrition, movement and mental health.

In addition to the lobby and waiting area learning displays, there are “Science on Display” windows where children and families can observe real-time research in CHOC’s Wet Lab and Maker Space on the 9th floor.