Ocean Medical Center

Ocean Medical Center is a community-based hospital serving the coastal region of New Jersey, since 1984. The Hirair and Anna Hovnanian Emergency Care Center represents OMC’s efforts to create a new model for emergency care, one more efficient, tranquil, private and less stressful. In response to a facility master planning effort, the new Emergency Care Center created the opportunity to transform a parking lot into a calming restorative landscape, infusing nature into the symbolic and physical heart of the campus.

The garden serves as a metaphorical echo between the Center’s mission of care and the region’s resilient coastal ecology. Reminiscent of the fluid forms of a coastal landscape and honoring New Jersey’s rich coastal dune ecology, sweeps of grasses, native perennials, shrubs and trees seamlessly weave together, creating a variety of ecologically diverse, seasonally interesting settings.

The landscape’s healing and restorative qualities address the sense of vulnerability and isolation that comes with illness and crisis. Serving the medical community twenty-four hours a day, a variety of safe and secure seating areas offer opportunities for quiet respite, privacy and socialization. Within the calming undulating forms, plant materials are strategically placed to frame important views and screen nearby distractions. Centrally located between the Emergency Center and Ambulatory Care entrances and structured parking, the garden provides opportunities for staff and visitors to engage with nature, offering a place to pause, pass through and view from key arrival and destination points.

Location
Brick, NJ

Size
11,000 SF

Completion
2014

Collaborators
WHR Architects