ARCHITECTURE AND DESIGN


Patient bedrooms are detailed with timber and a muted natural colour palette.


and digital signage. The infrastructure includes spare capacity in both the electrical and communications technology systems, allowing new digital equipment to be installed as future technology emerges. Circadian lighting is incorporated throughout patient care areas to help improve sleep, mood, and an overall sense of wellbeing for service-users. Feature circadian lighting expressed as


‘light box ceilings’ echoes the architectural lightwells through key spaces such as the main entry and patient lounge areas. Fixtures, fittings, and materials have been selected to be both in keeping with the therapeutic non-institutional aesthetic, and provide essential performance around being tamper-resistant, highly robust, and safe.


Familiar domestic design Familiar domestic design references assist in minimising environmental stress, enable delight and interest, and assist in creating joyful moments to offer positive distractions throughout the facility. Patient bedrooms are detailed with timber and a muted natural colour palette. Large bay windows, enabled by inboard en suites, feature integrated day beds, establishing a relaxed and comforting environment, while offering users choice of how they occupy the space. The bedrooms are bright, comfortable, and have the ability to layer personal touches. People have ownership over their personal spaces, which restores dignity and offers a deeper sense of belonging and ease. There are different


environments and choices for service-users. People can choose how to spend their time. They can move freely between inside or outside, choose to be among others, and occupy a social space, or migrate to somewhere quiet and cosy. There are opportunities for discovery and freedom. The


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The design incorporates a range of comfortable settings inside, and also in the landscaped courtyards.


layout enables different flows to help avoid conflict, and opportunities to intervene early. We learned that a change of setting can help de-escalate and manage agitation. This helps avoid restraint and seclusion, reducing events that can be traumatic for everyone involved.


A ‘drastic reduction’ in seclusion room use Data supports a drastic reduction in the use of seclusion rooms during the facility’s early months. In the old unit, seclusion rooms were occupied around twice weekly, but in the new facility, the number of seclusion events has dropped dramatically – to fewer than one per month. The design supports recovery-focused outcomes.


The urban site context required a


contextual response; our landscape design concept centred on ‘landscapes nestled within the building’. The floorplates are shaped around well-proportioned lightwells bringing daylight deep inside. Generous planting grows skyward from gardens at ground level, and a bespoke irrigated suspended planting system provides ‘hanging gardens’ that drop from above. Courtyards are enclosed with the building form, avoiding the need for obvious security fencing. The building diagram follows a simple


circulation route via light-filled corridors that provide clear orientation and passive surveillance of care spaces. Day spaces connect with verdant internal courtyards, while the picture windows at the corridor end and from bedrooms provide an external outlook to the streetscape, and long views of the surrounding country, providing relief from the inward-facing day spaces.


Landscape plays a critical


role in establishing a setting for human healing. The integrated gardens create places for retreat, and support mindful hobbies like gardening. Tending to bush tucker gardens and herb gardens encourages time to be spent in Queensland’s mild, subtropical climate. Service-users have the ability to get outside and access different types of courtyards and gardens, meaning external courtyards become a seamless extension of the interior spaces. It is anticipated that the biophilic design and quality of the environment will have ongoing benefits, leading to shorter stays. Benefits for the workforce equate to higher levels of staff attraction and retention, and fewer days of sick leave. Throughout the facility, spaces


Generous planting grows skyward from gardens at ground level, and a bespoke irrigated suspended planting system provides ‘hanging gardens’ that drop from above.


are filled with landscape, daylight, and views, ensuring that the building is designed to embrace the healing power of nature.


NOVEMBER 2024 | THE NETWORK


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