The History of LEED-Certified Children's Hospitals
An interactive demonstration of where and when LEED-certified children's hospitals have been built across the United States.
Introduction
This map was co-created by Maddie Mauro & Joyce Zhou. We are members of the Green Children's Hospital Team, a group of Harvard University students working on projects that explore and document the compelling relationship between healthcare and the environment.
In 1998, the United States Green Building Council (USGBC) pioneered the Leadership in Energy and Design (LEED) rating system, which recognizes construction projects that effectively pursue and achieve sustainability-oriented goals. LEED is the most widely used green building rating system in the world.
Projects pursuing LEED certification earn points for various green building strategies across several categories. Based on the number of points achieved, a project earns one of four LEED rating levels: Certified, Silver, Gold or Platinum.
Synthesizing data from the Children's Hospital Association, hospital website directories, and the USGBC, this map aims to visualize locations of children's hospitals across the United States in relation to their LEED certification status and history to track progress towards sustainability within pediatric healthcare.
Tips!
This map is interactive. To help you build a better understanding of this visualization, you are able to zoom in and move the map around to examine the data with much more detail.
Clicking on the dots will reveal more information about specific hospitals, such as name, GPS coordinates, bed count, and LEED certification status.
2009
Legend:
- Green Dot: LEED Certified
- Blue Dot: Silver LEED Status
- Yellow Dot: Gold LEED Status
- Grey Dot: Platinum LEED Status
Dell Children's Medical Center of Central Texas, visible as the silver dot on this map, spearheaded the movement towards LEED-certification in pediatric healthcare by becoming the first Platinum LEED-certified hospital in the world in 2009. Featuring significant dedicated green space, energy-saving light and water appliances, and renewable building materials wherever possible, Dell Children's implemented exceptionally sustainable practices all across their 32-acre campus.
In the same year, the Center for Life Sciences at Boston Children's Hospital and the Colket Translational Research Building at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia received Gold and Silver LEED-certification, respectively. The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia went on to construct two more LEED Gold-certified and one more LEED Silver-certified care and research centers.
2010
Legend:
- Green Dot: LEED Certified
- Blue Dot: Silver LEED Status
- Yellow Dot: Gold LEED Status
- Grey Dot: Platinum LEED Status
In 2010, the Women & Infants Hospital of Rhode Island constructed a 5-story expansion—named South Pavilion—which became the first hospital in New England to achieve LEED Gold status as well as home to the first single-bed Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) in the nation.
Seattle Children's also began its dedication to sustainability in 2010, when its Bellevue Clinic and Surgery Center opened and received LEED Gold certification. Just three years later, its main campus building, Forest A, achieved LEED Gold certification as well.
2011
Legend:
- Green Dot: LEED Certified
- Blue Dot: Silver LEED Status
- Yellow Dot: Gold LEED Status
- Grey Dot: Platinum LEED Status
Rady Children's Hospital San Diego, already the only exclusively pediatric hospital in San Diego, became the first LEED-certified acute-care hospital in California in 2011.
Also in 2011, UPMC Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh received LEED certification for its main building, which features rooftop healing gardens, preferred and discount parking for high occupancy vehicles, and even a "green education" program for patients, visitors, and staff.
2012
Legend:
- Green Dot: LEED Certified
- Blue Dot: Silver LEED Status
- Yellow Dot: Gold LEED Status
- Grey Dot: Platinum LEED Status
In 2012, five pediatric hospitals received LEED certification for their entire facility: Helen DeVos Children's Hospital, Joe DiMaggio Children's Hospital, and the Rush University Medical Center Tower (which houses Rush University Children's hospital) were all awarded LEED Gold, while C.S. Mott Children's Hospital and Le Bonheur Children's Hospital were awarded LEED Silver.
The Research Institute at Texas Children's Hospital also received LEED Gold certification in 2012.
2013
Legend:
- Green Dot: LEED Certified
- Blue Dot: Silver LEED Status
- Yellow Dot: Gold LEED Status
- Grey Dot: Platinum LEED Status
In 2013, Nemours Children's Hospital became the third children's hospital in the country and the first hospital in central Florida to receive LEED Gold certification for its entire facility.
The Detroit Specialty Center of the Children's Hospital of Michigan, which prioritizes stormwater management, drought-tolerant landscaping, and reduced private automobile use by visitors and staff, was also awarded LEED certification in 2013.
Finally, Children's of Alabama received LEED Gold in 2013 for its Benjamin Russell Building—this 12-story expansion became Alabama's first and only LEED-certified healthcare facility.
2015
Legend:
- Green Dot: LEED Certified
- Blue Dot: Silver LEED Status
- Yellow Dot: Gold LEED Status
- Grey Dot: Platinum LEED Status
Only two hospitals received LEED certification in 2015, both for external research facilities rather than main buildings or entire campuses.
The first was Cincinnati Children's Medical Center's Location T Clinical Research building, a facility that houses both research space and patient-care clinics, which received LEED Silver certification.
The second was Nationwide Children's Hospital, which was awarded LEED Gold for its Research Building III.
2017
Legend:
- Green Dot: LEED Certified
- Blue Dot: Silver LEED Status
- Yellow Dot: Gold LEED Status
- Grey Dot: Platinum LEED Status
2017 also saw only two LEED certifications in the pediatric healthcare sector.
The Children's Hospital of the King's Daughters (CHKD) Health Center at Landstown, an ambulatory care center 15 miles from the CHKD main campus, became the first pediatric healthcare facility in Virginia to meet LEED's updated requirements by receiving LEED silver certification.
Eight months later, Inova Children's Hospital of Falls Church, Virginia was also awarded LEED Silver certification.
2018
Legend:
- Green Dot: LEED Certified
- Blue Dot: Silver LEED Status
- Yellow Dot: Gold LEED Status
- Grey Dot: Platinum LEED Status
The only children's hospital to become LEED-certified in 2018 was Lucile Packard Children's Hospital Stanford—the first children's hospital on the West Coast to receive the impressive Platinum certification. The construction project was designed and executed by the Perkins+Will architecture firm, whose principal, Robin Guenther, described the project as featuring "reduc[ed] solar heat gain... innovative, low-energy systems; advanced water-conservation strategies; extensive integration of landscape, including occupied gardens and green roofs; and a focus on local, recycled, and healthy materials."
2019
Legend:
- Green Dot: LEED Certified
- Blue Dot: Silver LEED Status
- Yellow Dot: Gold LEED Status
- Grey Dot: Platinum LEED Status
The most recent significant pushes towards LEED certification in pediatric healthcare were recognized in 2019: Hassenfeld Children's Hospital of NYU Langone Medical Center became the first children's hospital in New York State to receive LEED Platinum Certification, and University of Iowa Stead Family Children's Hospital was awarded LEED Gold.
In total, 3 United States children's hospitals have received basic LEED certification for at least one facility on their campus; 7 have received LEED Silver; 13 have received LEED Gold; and 3 have received LEED Platinum.
