Hospital Makes A Grand Entrance

A fixture in any town is the hospital.  Minifigs who fall ill or get injured can expect to find themselves on the doorstep of our town clinic.  Like many of the structures in Bricksburgh, the hospital received quite an upgrade in location when we moved to the new house.  

Even better than the location change, though, was the new driveway-- a much GRANDER entrance courtyard!

The hospital itself is actually two sets combined into one.   We've already blogged about the design of the building itself-- CLICK HERE.  The actual building hasn't been changed in several years and is probably due for an upgrade of some kind.  There's been some talk of adding a rehabilitation area where physical therapists can work without being in the mix of bed- and operating rooms.

In the earlier post you can see how the location of the hospital has changed over time too.  Once it was close to the neighborhood, another town plan put it between the police and fire stations.  The last place it was before the move was right across from the beach and across a pedestrian plaza from the Condo Building (you can see how great that location was by reading THIS POST).

Seriously though, never in real life would a hospital enjoy such an expensive location!!  So when we relaid the town on the new tables the hospital was moved into a more central part of the city (just like real hospitals are).  The area it sits on did increase, however, as we gave it the dedicated entrance you see here.

In the past, visitors to the hospital had to find parking nearby-- there were no dedicated parking spaces-- and the medical vehicles were parked behind the building where unloading patients was awkward at best.   This new driveway welcomes traffic from the street and (the arrow is missing in the picture, weirdly) drivers are directed around the right side of the island and then exit back to the street on the left side.  Ambulances pull in and to the right (you can see the back of one here) so that their rear doors open in the direction of the hospital's main door.

Parking for patients and visitors is a lot better too.  There a number of "nose-in" spaces along the adjoining street between the hospital and the office tower (to the left of the picture above).  These spaces are well lit (because the hospital has lots of visitors even at night) and their location keeps traffic OUT of the main entrance circle but without making for a longer walk to the door.

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