PITTSBURGH -- The new Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh -- which has been under construction for years -- will open in a few weeks, but city residents got a sneak peek at the facility Sunday.

Neighbors in the Lawrenceville neighborhood have watched the brightly colored building take shape near the corner of 45th Street and Penn Avenue. On Sunday, they got to see it from the inside.

"We designed this facility with significant input from patients and families, and one of the things we heard loud and clear is that we need to brighten it up," said Chris Gessner, the hospital's president. "Colors were a big part of the design features that they wanted us to have."

Gessner said the five buildings on 10 acres of land are technologically sophisticated, starting with wireless Internet.

"We are completely paperless. You can probably count on one hand the hospitals in this country that can make that statement, and that adds to patient safety, improved quality," Gessner said.

Inside the huge atrium, patients on different floors can watch movies projected in the space, and private rooms are also available, as the new hospital was designed to be more user-friendly.

"The outpatients are pretty separate from the inpatients, which will make it easier for patients and families to find their appointment," Gessner said. "They can park underground in the outpatient garage, come right up the elevator, walk right off and they're there."

Gessner said physicians, nurses and other employees offered significant input into how the new hospital was built.

"People come from all over the country to get some of the services we provide -- transplants, neuroscience -- and we're just so excited to bring those people in and make Pittsburgh proud," Gessner said.

On April 20, the first patients -- outpatients -- will arrive at the new Children's Hospital. Another group is scheduled to arrive on April 27.

Then, on May 2, all of the inpatients will be transported in one day from the old facility in Oakland to the Lawrenceville building.