Ralph Applebaum Associates

NYC Health + Hospitals/Elmhurst provides services for approximately 55,000 infant, pediatric and adolescent patients and their families annually. Founded in 1832, the hospital is the second oldest municipal hospital in New York City. It is also located in Elmhurst, Queens, the most ethnically diverse community in the world with immigrants from 112 different countries. It is designated as a “Baby-Friendly” Hospital by Baby-Friendly USA, an initiative of the World Health Organization and the United Nations Children’s Fund. Over 2,200 babies are delivered at the hospital each year.

Working with RxART and artist Nina Chanel Abney, RAA was asked to take on the transformation of the interior of this facility. Abney created vibrant designs to provide a positive distraction for patients and their families as they wait to receive critical care. RAA worked with Abney to transform her joyful imagery into immersive wall coverings and vinyl graphics installed in the waiting areas, windows, and hallways of the clinic.

RAA is a corporate design partner of RxART, an organization whose mission is to help children heal through the extraordinary power of visual art. RxART commissions established contemporary artists to transform children’s hospital settings into engaging and uplifting healing environments at no cost to the hospitals.