Family Lodge and Garden

The mission of the Family Lodge is to offer quiet refuge and supportive fellowship to the families and caregivers of patients receiving treatment at the NIH Clinical Center. The Lodge provides 34 guest rooms, a library, business and telecommuting center, fitness center, home-style kitchen, social areas, laundry rooms, and a healing garden. LSY’s design respects the campus planning hierarchy and is contextual with the building’s immediate historic neighbor, the Convent. The Healing Garden is a key element of the design and consists of a series of connected outdoor “rooms” where guests can relax within tranquil surroundings and enjoy a serene park-like setting within the larger NIH campus.

In addition to locating the Lodge building and its requisite parking, LSY was responsible for designing entry roads and service access, making visual and physical connections to existing site features, screening undesirable views and framing desirable views, and garden design for both private, meditative spaces and public areas around the building. Despite a very tight construction budget, LSY’s design effectively uses traditional building materials and forms to convey the desired residential image. Multiple value management work sessions were utilized to keep the project on budget, and the project design was delivered to the owner on schedule.