The Mease Hospital LDRP was one of the first in the country. As a Labor/Delivery/Recovery/Post Pardum Unit, the design stood in sharp contrast to the traditional Maternity Ward. The LDRP was designed more as a luxury hotel where the birth of the newborn is not treated as an illness, but rather as a celebration of life.
The radial plan made it possible to create a much more compact floor plan. This was critical as traditional rectangular plans placed the operating rooms (if needed), too far from a patient's room. By using the radial plan it was possible to eliminate two entire nursing stations as the efficient layout, focused on a main hub, required only 3 nurses' stations rather than 5.
The clerestory above the tall main curvilinear hallway floods the center of the structure with light. As seen from the aerial photo, each rooms was designed to open up to a courtyard with a fruit tree. Nurses who work there have commented on how pleasant a working environment it is.
