In Dallas, HKS and Perkins&Will are slated to deliver a pediatric campus that, upon completion, will be the largest of its kind in the U.S. The architects were selected by Children’s Health and UT Southwestern Medical Center to help meeting growing demand for children’s health services in north Texas.

The pediatric campus will replace an existing one at Dallas’s Children’s Health Hospital. The new campus by HKS and Perkins&Will will be one of the largest, most transformative pediatric hospitals in the nation, project officials said. The $5 billion venture will provide 552 beds across a total 4.5 million square feet of new construction. McCarthy Building Companies and J.T. Vaughn Construction will be the construction managers.

The new beds will increase inpatient capacity for Children’s Health by 38 percent, the architects said. The new campus will also have 15 percent more emergency department (ED) space and 22 percent more operating room space, with options for future expansion. The new facility will simultaneously have a Level I pediatric trauma center with 90 ED exam rooms, and 24 observations rooms, and a new fetal care center that will offer the region’s most advanced and accessible services for complex maternal and fetal health care.

Additional features at the campus will also include a connector bridge between the new facilities and UT Southwestern’s William P. Clements Jr. University Hospital. A new outpatient building on campus will contain 96 exam rooms, the architects elaborated.

Rachel Knox, studio leader of health practice at HKS, and a partner at the Dallas firm, said: “HKS and Perkins&Will are the two largest health architecture practices in Dallas,” Knox noted. “Many of us are parents. This is more than a project for us – our kids are in this community. While both of our firms have designed children’s hospitals around the world, it’s incredible to work on one in your own backyard.”

Renderings of the facility show several rectangular volumes featuring prismatic, glass facade panels. Access to outdoor space is prioritized across the building with landscaped balconies integrated on several levels.

Ian Sinnett, health principal in Perkins&Will’s Dallas studio, added: “For more than 110 years, Children’s Health has made it their mission to make life better for children,” said Sinnett. “This hospital will be a gamechanger for children and their families all across Texas – and for the incredible care staff committed to their healing journeys.”

Construction should begin in the second half of 2024. It’s set to open in the next six to seven years.