ARCHITECTURE & DESIGN


consistency of brand, accomplishing its goal in the way it delivers care to its patients and their families. The continuity of brand through interior design in the BHP sends a clear message that Nationwide is delivering mental healthcare just as it does any other type of care. The main entry concourse presents users with clear destinations for accessing the resources they need. A grand stair welcomes families to the second floor to receive a plethora of outpatient psychiatric care services. In keeping with the hospital system’s approach to person and family- centered care, the same stair extends down to a ground level café and gift shop, providing respite to care-givers, who are often coping with the stress of supporting their ill child. Nationwide has created a generous


Family Amenity area where parents and siblings can prepare meals, take a rest, or play, while remaining close to the child receiving care. Located on the fifth floor, it is immediately adjacent to the rooftop courtyard, adding access to the outdoors to Nationwide’s repertoire of family amenities. The building promotes wellness not just for the child in need of psychiatric care, but for all who use it. Caring for the whole person means offering their support network the resources to do their best.


Patient safety One design challenge faced by our team was ensuring that the facility emphasised safety, while still creating an uplifting environment for patients, families, and staff. To that end, our design team worked to find patient-safe products for the interior care environment consistent with the aesthetic and sustainable criteria that are standard on all Nationwide projects. We generated countless mock-ups of casework, ceilings, custom furnishings, and colour palettes that could withstand the rigorous use anticipated from young patients, would be easily maintainable by the maintenance team, would be attractive, and would protect children from hurting themselves or others. Full-room mock-ups were constructed not only to test out options, but also


Sara Wengert


Sara K. Wengert, AIA, ASID, is a Principal at architecture+, and ‘a vital part’ of its Mental Health Design team. Having joined the practice in 1994, become an Associate in 2004, and Principal in 2014, she leads the practice’s national healthcare projects as Principal-in-Charge and Lead interior designer. She also oversees the firm’s interior design projects, and manages the firm’s Statewide Campus Master Plan contract with NYS-OMH, which involves planning services for 11 campuses throughout New York State.


‘Dedicated to creating healing and recovery settings’, Sara Wengert also manages architecture+’s Patient Safety Standards Team. Under her guidance, and in conjunction with the New York State Office of Mental Health (NYS-OMH), the team develops and updates the Patient Safety Standards, Materials and Systems Guidelines for the state’s new and renovated facilities. In this leadership role, she has collaborated with numerous healthcare furniture manufacturers on the development of products appropriate for the therapeutic environment.


She was a topic group member of the 2022 Health Guidelines Revision Committee (HGRC), contributing to the revision and updating of the FGI (Facility Guidelines Institute) Guidelines for Design and Construction of Hospitals, and specifically behavioural health crisis units.


THE NETWORK | FEBRUARY 2024 21


to serve as recruitment tools for future care team members. Clinicians, with their eyes on safety and efficiency, were able to identify design improvement opportunities and offer feedback on the feasibility of several of the solutions. It was a collaborative and inclusive design process that provided the design team with invaluable insight, and generated buy-in from staff members investing their time. The mock-ups further served to solidify Nationwide Children’s Hospital’s position as an employer of choice. As candidates were interviewed, many of them were given the opportunity to experience the mock-ups and imagine themselves performing at their best in the groundbreaking care environment at the new BHP.


Nationwide has, through its strategic


outreach, its architecture, and its delivery of quality care, established itself as a Centre of Excellence in paediatric psychiatric care. In clinical and architectural circles alike, the BHP signals to us all that mental health is as important as any other aspect of our health. From downtown Columbus, particularly at night, the illuminated rooftop play yard is a beacon for stigma-free recovery within the city in its unabashed visibility atop the new structure.


n


l architecture+ served as subconsultant to NBBJ. Its responsibilities included programming, planning, floorplans, interior design, and furniture, fixtures, and equipment for all clinical spaces.


architecture+’s Design Team


worked to find patient-safe products for


the interior care environment


‘consistent with the aesthetic


and sustainable criteria standard on all Nationwide projects’.


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