The $26 million mental health center is distinct in terms of use of natural lighting, landscaping, and other therapeutic design elements designed by Design Partnership, California-based architectural and planning firm, to promote a healing setting. The psychiatric care center under construction is designed to be a single-story facility, to enable easy access to outdoor spaces.
The bedrooms in the facility are designed to offer landscape views and convenient access to outside space. Christine Coffin, senior architect/planner at the Design Partnership, said that the firm has developed the center design in consultation with clinicians.
This single-story complex includes four inpatient psychiatric acute care nursing units surrounding outdoor enclosed gardens for the patients, providing a total of 80 beds, a separate research and office pavilion, and a utility building to service the complex.
The single story scheme also allows each patient direct access to gardens. This offers an opportunity to involve in various forms of outdoor activities based on the acuity level of the patient. For older patients quiet, view gardens are designed and for more active patients, garden areas are designated to plant vegetables and flowers.
All the building elements are organized along a covered walkway, which forms an arcade enclosing the central garden courtyard, linking program functions and creating easy way-finding for visitors, staff and patients.
The building incorporates many sustainable design elements; for instance by using a single-story scheme the facility’s internal spaces will receive ample daylight. This reduces the electrical loads and minimizes the effects of fluorescent lighting on patients.
Throughout the project, high-efficiency water and heating systems are specified, state of the art nurse call and data systems are featured. Construction materials are selected not only for their ability to aid in the healing environment but also for their high recycled and low emission content.
The building is designed to achieve US Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Silver certification. The mental health center construction is scheduled to reach completion by 2011.
