Manning Family Children’s NICU, New Orleans: First Look

New Orleans

Manning Family Children’s in New Orleans is expanding its Level 4 neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) to support highly specialized, collaborative care teams serving premature infants as young as 22 weeks’ gestation.

In addition to upgrading equipment and support facilities, the 33,400-square-foot project triples the NICU’s current square footage and increases bed count from 35 to 60. The new unit, expected to open in spring 2027, includes single and double patient rooms, parent/infant rooms, multi-patient bays, a milk lab for breast milk collection and storage, and a family respite lounge.

A calming, acoustic ‘lullaby’ design

The project team, including Kennedy Kraft Architects (New Orleans), takes the hospital’s music-centered design theme and interprets it at a quieter register for the NICU’s fragile patient population. The resulting “lullaby” concept shapes every design decision, from materials selection to lighting strategy to spatial sequence.

Specifically, adjustable, indirect lighting minimizes glare throughout the unit, and acoustic ceiling materials dampen ambient noise—conditions particularly essential for premature infants sensitive to light and sound.