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A Place of Respite

St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital

St. Jude creates a supportive space where patient families can escape the medical setting to process, recharge, learn, and grow.

$50M donation

IDEO’s work with St. Jude’s led to one of the biggest donor gifts in the hospital’s history, which funded the Family Commons

45,000 feet

The Family Commons, a 45,000 foot sanctuary for families, opened in January of 2023

St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, one of the largest pediatric hospitals in the world, puts compassionate care at the center of its mission. The hospital treats more than 8,000 children with cancer and other childhood illnesses every year, giving hope to many families facing difficult diagnoses. Despite the enormous costs of care, parents never receive a bill—St. Jude covers the costs through fundraising. And, to keep patient lives as normal as possible, most treatment is outpatient. Still, pediatric cancer treatment disrupts the lives of patients and their families, who also are juggling work, childcare, and their lives back home. To ease the burden on families, St. Jude worked with IDEO to design the Family Commons, a 45,000 square-foot space with no clinical care. Just areas for families to rest, learn, recharge, sleep, and play as they balance treatment and the demands of their daily lives.

A before and after of the prototype used to test the new Family Commons area at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital

“We call Family Commons a ‘treatment free zone,’ but I think we’re discovering Family Commons is actually the exact treatment protocol that we didn’t know we needed.”

Amanda Chandler

Project and Admin Manager in the Patient and Family Experience Office at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital

Most treatment at St. Jude is outpatient, which keeps life as normal as possible, but leaves patient families without a space of their own. As one parent said, “There was a time we practically lived here. Transfusion days are the worst—you’re here from 11am to 9pm.”

Pediatric cancer treatment can last as long as three years, and the rest of life’s responsibilities don’t pause while it’s happening.

Long and varying days of treatment create periods on campus where a family might be bored, energized, or exhausted depending on the treatment protocol.

When St. Jude and IDEO looked to create a patient and family space away from clinical treatment, they put patient families at the center of the process.

No one understands the burden and competing demands of having a sick child more than the parents at St. Jude. As IDEO and St. Jude partnered to create the Family Commons, they met with 10 different St. Jude families to learn more about their experiences, and the kind of supportive space they would like to have. Because much of the treatment at St. Jude is outpatient, families aren’t staying at the hospital, but they do spend long days there. Often, they were looking for quiet spaces where kids and parents could get some sleep, or rest. At other times, they craved opportunities for a bit of normalcy, and even joy.

With the families’ experiences centered in mind, the design team developed concepts that might improve time at St Jude for patients, parents, and even healthy siblings. They then built a prototype of the space, and invited another five families to try it out, gathering feedback and tweaking designs along the way. Kids tested out simple projects, parents wrote advice to share with other parents, and late one night, a family even snuck in to use a resting nook—a quiet space designed with privacy in mind. With the help of ANF Architects and interior architects ICRAVE, St. Jude built out the final result: a 45,000-foot sanctuary dedicated entirely to patients and their families—no donors, no clinicians.

Though the Family Commons itself is enormous, it’s divided into cozy, smaller spaces that feel more like home. There is a cafe where families can share meals and interact, and a general store where they can pick up small items. A living room offers a quieter space, and resting nooks offer a place to catch up on sleep, or process trauma, while the patio gives patients and their siblings a chance to get fresh air and run around. The Learning Center is stocked with projects, a library, and other resources. There are even art and music studios. They’re designed to help patients pursue longer-term projects and learn to play an instrument. Throughout, the spaces are designed to delight patients, whether they’re 3 or 17. There’s even a salon, where parents can take a minute for themselves. Now, families looking for a quiet place space and a bit of normalcy have a new home at St. Jude.

Press stories

St. Jude’s new addition is designed for the downtime between childhood cancer treatments

Fast company

Building the Family Commons: Making a Long-time Dream Come True for St. Jude Families

St. Jude’s Blog

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