ARCHITECTURE & DESIGN
Circulation spaces are designed as an additional room, providing informal places to sit, rest, and chat, with other patients and the clinical team.
building is set back from the site boundary and adjoining road, reducing in scale to single storey as it approaches the street frontage. This presents the building at a more human scale to the adjacent street. An innovative root-protecting foundation design lifts the building above the roots of the mature Category A trees, including a number of particularly attractive Scots Pines, which enabled their retention remarkably close to the new building. Engineered by Godsell Arnold
Partnership, the structure consists of a steel frame with a concrete-filled metal deck to support the first-floor accommodation. The ground floor was engineered using a piled raft solution cast above ground level to allow water to reach root networks via a surface water irrigation system. The design’s response to the site
context plays a vital role in the creation of a comfortable and non-clinical
A window seat in each bedroom provides a comfortable place to sit and view the surrounding woodland.
environment which supports recovery, and provides patients with a sense that they are valued and deserving of care. The bedroom accommodation and the patient day spaces are located together on the ground floor, providing eight inpatient beds and two high-dependency beds. The transparent day spaces have views out to an accessible landscaped garden and the surrounding woodland, maximising the therapeutic benefit. Staff and therapy rooms occupy the first floor, with a large multi-functional activity space providing spectacular views out across the tree canopy.
Spaces that support the treatment of eating disorders Through close consultation with clinical staff, the facilities at Kimmeridge Court have been designed to enable patients to re-establish a positive relationship with food and exercise. An attractive and homely
Activities of Daily Living kitchen area allows patients to practice meal preparation and cooking in an environment that mirrors everyday life, providing the confidence to cook for themselves. Group therapy spaces are immediately accessible from the dining area to enable workshops to take place, in which feelings about eating are shared and explored. Sliding doors allow these key shared spaces to be opened up to promote social connection, or separated for more private, focused activity. While a private outdoor garden has
been provided as a therapeutic space, it has been designed to limit opportunities for excessive exercise, a common treatment interference behaviour. If a patient’s treatment requires access to the outside space to be restricted, large areas of glazing provide expansive views to the garden from the lounge and the activity room, to maintain a connection with the outdoors.
The building provides a wide variety of comfortable living spaces. Sliding doors allow spaces to be divided when privacy is required.
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Designed for comfort and non- intrusive observation Due to the restful nature of their treatment, patients are encouraged to spend time in their bedrooms. As a result, they have been designed to be a comfortable space for relaxation and reflection. Bay windows provide a place to sit and enjoy the trees of the wooded glade, while allowing light deep into the room. Customised built-in joinery with storage for personal belongings, a desk, and a fully user- controlled entertainment system, give the rooms a recognisably domestic feel. Each bedroom accommodates a single bed and dedicated en-suite WC and shower room. Saloon-style doors to the en-suite, the layout of the bedrooms, and the ward plan with a central staff base, allow observation to be maintained with efficient staffing levels, without patients feeling their privacy and dignity have been
AUGUST 2023 | THE NETWORK
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