Architects: Bertrand Goldberg
Year: 1975
Photographs: Courtesy of Landmark Illinois, C. William Brubaker via Flickr user UIC Digital Collections, Flickr user seanbirm, Flickr user the justified sinner, Flickr user Nick Bianco
Manufacturers: Terrazzo & Marble
Products Used in This Project: Terrazzo Flooring – Terroxy Resin Systems by Terrazzo & Marble
City: Chicago
Country: United States
Prentice Women’s Hospital, designed by Bertrand Goldberg and completed in 1975 in Chicago, revolutionized hospital design by prioritizing human relationships and flexibility in medical spaces. Departing from traditional corridor layouts, Goldberg’s design introduced a distinctive plinth-and-tower form. The rectilinear base housed adaptable spaces like surgical suites and laboratories, while the innovative ‘four leaf clover’ tower above fostered social interaction and efficient patient care. This groundbreaking structure, featuring load-bearing walls cantilevered from a central core using aeronautic software, stood as a unique architectural feat. Influenced by Brutalism, humanism, and the Metabolist movement, the hospital merged several key architectural trends of the 1970s. Despite its significance, Northwestern University demolished Prentice Women’s Hospital in 2013 to build a new biomedical research facility.
Hospital buildings typically follow restrictive design standards focused on hygiene and efficiency, often resulting in uninspired corridors of patient rooms built from a limited material palette. However, Bertrand Goldberg’s 1975 Prentice Women’s Hospital defied this norm. The hospital stands out as the finest example in a series of Goldberg-designed medical facilities, all of which adhere to a similar form: a tower for patient care rooms positioned atop a rectilinear plinth containing the hospital’s other functions.
Goldberg’s design philosophy was to allow the building’s interior needs to dictate its exterior form, leading to the distinctive plinth-and-tower structure of his hospitals. The lower floors, or the plinth, housed surgical suites, research labs, dining areas, and maintenance facilities. Anticipating that advances in medical technology would necessitate significant changes to these spaces, Goldberg opted for a rectilinear plinth, maximizing flexibility. Conversely, since the core function of a hospital—caring for patients—remains constant, Goldberg believed the tower did not require the same adaptability. His approach to the tower was influenced by anthropologists like Edward T. Hall, who explored how human interactions vary with different spatial arrangements.
The tower’s ‘four leaf clover’ plan divided each floor into four small communities, promoting stronger social ties among neighboring occupants. This radial layout created numerous intersecting routes on each floor, increasing the likelihood of social interactions compared to a typical corridor arrangement. The design also placed all patients at approximately equal distances from the central nurses’ station, enhancing the efficiency of care.
The interior layout dictated the building’s exterior form, which required external load-bearing walls. Conventional structural solutions at the time would have typically involved supporting the structure with columns. However, Goldberg adopted a groundbreaking approach by using software from the aeronautics industry—nearly two decades before Frank Gehry popularized such techniques. This innovation allowed the structural walls to be cantilevered from the building’s central core. According to Goldberg’s son, Geoffrey Goldberg, this structural solution is unique and not found elsewhere in the world.
Prentice Women’s Hospital, with its emphasis on human relationships and community-building, its distinctive concrete form, and its use of advanced structural solutions of the time, embodies multiple architectural streams from the early 1970s. Goldberg’s design integrates elements of Brutalism, the humanistic approach of architects like Aldo Van Eyck, and the Metabolist movement led by Japanese architects such as Kenzo Tange and Fumihiko Maki. This combination reflects Bertrand Goldberg’s broader architectural philosophy and influence.
Despite the architectural significance and unique blend of influences of Prentice Women’s Hospital, it was not preserved amid Chicago’s evolving landscape. Numerous architects advocated for its protection, and there was even a final proposal from Jeanne Gang and The New York Times’ Michael Kimmelman. However, these efforts were insufficient, as Northwestern University, the building’s owner, demolished it in the summer of 2013. The university cited that the structure could not meet the requirements for the cutting-edge biomedical research facility planned for the site.
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Address: 333 East Superior Street, Chicago, Illinois 60611, United States
Location is for general reference and may represent a city or country, not necessarily a precise address.
