This is what we believe healing should feel like.

The Children’s House at Johns Hopkins is being reimagined as a place of calm in the midst of uncertainty. Just steps from the Johns Hopkins Children’s Center, this home will ease the burden on families so they can focus on what matters most — caring for their critically ill child.

Here, parents can rest. Children can play. Loved ones can share a meal, have a quiet moment, or simply breathe in an environment that understands what they are going through.

A New Standard for Healing Environments

We believe the spaces surrounding families during medical crisis matter. The Children’s House will be a one-of-a-kind pediatric residential facility designed to feel like a restorative retreat.

Inspired by the world’s most calming resorts and wellness spaces, every detail — from arrival to private suites — will communicate comfort, care, and belonging.

Design Principles That Shape the House

Every design choice is grounded in compassion, safety, and respect for the emotional journey families are navigating.

Arrival as a Moment of Relief

Families will enter through a single main entrance designed to feel both welcoming and secure. A two-story entry filled with natural light will open to a landscaped courtyard.

Circadian lighting, quiet acoustics, natural materials, and a boutique-style reception area will help families shift from hospital intensity to a slower, steadier pace.

Spaces Designed for Restoration

Throughout the house, shared spaces are designed to encourage comfort, connection, and calm.

Common gathering areas feature comfortable seating, vapor fireplaces, reading and working nooks, and thoughtfully curated art with soothing color palettes.

A meditation and wellness room offers a quiet refuge with minimal design, dimmable lighting, ambient sound, gentle scents, and space for reflection, stretching, or guided relaxation.

The exercise room provides accessible options for movement and stress relief, supporting both physical health and emotional resilience.

Children’s play areas and teen lounges are playful yet serene — inviting joy and creativity without overstimulation, and offering strong connections to outdoor spaces.

Kitchens and Dining That Feel Like Home

The communal kitchen and dining areas are styled like a welcoming Mediterranean café — warm, light-filled, and inviting. Cozy alcoves allow for quiet family meals, while larger dining areas encourage connection and shared moments.

These spaces are designed to support both togetherness and solitude, honoring the personal rhythms of each family.

Private Family Suites

Each family suite is a private, spa-like retreat designed for true rest.

Plush bedding, blackout curtains, soundproofing, and soft lighting create an environment where families can sleep deeply and recover emotionally. Spa-inspired bathrooms with natural finishes and modified rain showers offer moments of comfort and dignity during long hospital stays.

These rooms are more than places to sleep — they are places to restore.

Nature as a Constant Presence

Secure courtyard gardens, rooftop terraces, and landscaped outdoor spaces are woven throughout the facility, offering fresh air, greenery, and quiet moments of connection with nature.

Living walls, water features, and green buffers help soften the surrounding urban environment, creating a sense of being enveloped in calm while remaining in the heart of world-class medical care.

Designed for Safety and Serenity

Safety is an essential part of the healing experience — and at The Children’s House, it is thoughtfully integrated into every design choice.

Outdoor spaces are secure, enclosed, and monitored while remaining welcoming and peaceful. Lighting throughout the property ensures pathways and gathering areas feel safe at any hour without appearing harsh or institutional.

Soundproofing and acoustic design shield families from city noise, creating a hushed, retreat-like interior environment. Collaboration with Johns Hopkins security and community partners provides layered protection that allows families to rest with confidence.

By making safety ever-present but unobtrusive, families are free to focus on what matters most.

A Beacon of Hope

A signature exterior design element — the softly illuminated corner tower in a Believe In Tomorrow color — will serve as a beacon of hope and identity for the facility. It stands as a visible reminder of compassion, care, and community support in the heart of Baltimore.

Our Promise

The Children’s House at Johns Hopkins is designed to be the first pediatric residential facility in the world that truly feels like a restorative retreat.

Families will walk through the door and feel their shoulders relax, their breath deepen, and their spirits lift. Without words, the space will communicate what families need to hear most:

You are safe. You are cared for. You are not alone.

Join the Project

The vision for The Children’s House at Johns Hopkins is made possible through the collective care of a community that believes families facing pediatric medical crises deserve more than a place to stay — they deserve a place to heal.

By joining this project, you become part of a shared commitment to create a sanctuary of peace, safety, and restoration in the heart of world-class medical care. Together, we are shaping an environment that will support families today and for generations to come.

Whether you are a donor, partner, advocate, or supporter, your involvement helps bring this vision to life — transforming compassion into space, and hope into something families can truly feel.

Join us in building a home where healing extends beyond medicine.