MENTAL HEALTH FACILITIES
the form of landscaped outdoor terraces on each of the Centre’s eight floors. On the lower floors, these green spaces will be open to all, while the roof gardens on the upper inpatient floors include discrete spaces for a variety of therapeutic activities, including learning, therapy, recreation, and relaxation. Through considered planting in each of these spaces, they range from one-to-one therapy areas, with a sense of privacy afforded by trees and shrubbery, to large, open spaces suited to yoga, Pilates, and other activities. Extensive planting will allow for vegetables to be cultivated on these terraces and provide therapeutic stimulation through sensory planting. Even in the Centre’s interiors nature
finds a way, with biophilic designs throughout the building seamlessly connecting its indoor and outdoor spaces. Natural wood doors, wood-effect flooring, and natural wool hanging panels add to the natural feel of the building. From signage to the subtle modulations of colour inspired by the natural landscape across the building’s different zones, the consistent presence of nature at the Pears Maudsley Centre will help every patient find their way.
Supporting young people through design One outcome of the consultation process for the Pears Maudsley Centre was the formation of the ‘Young People’s Art Group’ – a collective of young people with lived experience of mental health conditions who took on a leading role in commissioning artworks for the project. The artists selected by members of
the Group have produced work that will be displayed throughout the facility – especially in private nooks that offer moments of rest, calm, and quiet in the Centre’s hallways. Users will have the opportunity to retreat to these
resilience and tools that will help them move forward with their lives.
It is also vital that patients can do this at Pears Maudsley Centre 4th floor terrace.
comfortable seating pods built into the walls, where they will be surrounded by books and art designed with their needs, and the overarching therapeutic environment at the Centre, in mind. Arcadis Interior Designer Liz Petrovich
reflected on the broader design processes that knitted the building’s different spaces together: “We applied sense-sensitive design techniques to support a range of spaces for treatment, schooling, family time, and play. We used sensory cues such as lighting levels, colours, and texture to underpin appropriate behaviours and moods across the different spaces. Our core guiding principle is that internal space must be inspirational, encouraging discourse, collaboration, and a strong sense of wellbeing.” Supporting young people to keep living rich creative and educational lives – whatever mental health challenges they face – has always been the core mission of the Maudsley and Bethlem Hospital School. In its new home in the Pears Maudsley Centre, the school will provide education to young people aged 11–18 years across two floors. It is vital that young people can continue their learning while receiving treatment, both to regain their self-confidence and build up the
their own pace, with learning programmes tailored to their needs, interests, and level of education. For this purpose, the classrooms are designed to support individual and group learning, and include the facilities and resources needed to teach a broad range of traditional academic subjects, as well as others like art, cooking, and horticulture. The materials, colours, and lighting in the classrooms have been carefully chosen to mark out the school as a distinct environment, and with special consideration for their impact on children with ASD.
Conclusion The building has already been recognised as an outstanding and innovative example in the field of healthcare design. It was Highly Commended in both the ‘Outside Spaces’ category at the 2022 Design in Mental Awards and the ‘Future Healthcare Design’ category at the 2021 European Healthcare Design Awards. Every element of Pears Maudsley
Centre, from entire floors to the blades of grass on its terraces, comes together in service of two principles. The first is that we can achieve better results when we treat and think about mental health together, with research and clinical staff working hand-in-glove on the biggest challenges in the field. The second is that everything we do, we do for the children and young people who pass through our facility each day, providing the specialised care and knowledge that can make a real difference in their lives. By designing the Centre with these
values in mind from the outset, we have a chance of making that difference, and of changing the way our service users and the general public think about mental health, from the ground up.
IFHE
Pears Maudsley Centre school terrace. IFHE DIGEST 2024 25
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