Active environments and interdisciplinary design
It is well known that skillfully planned, nurturing and stimulating environments can contribute to positive outcomes in mental health. It follows that an increase in the quality of the atmosphere within types of institutional spaces not only fosters a better quality of care and more agreeable journeys in mental health but also provides great benefits to others involved in using these buildings. Staff, families, friends, and visitors of all types benefit through improvements in these the daily experiences, leading to an increase in the efficiency and quality work, play, healing and learning alike.
A PSYCH.RAUM/thinkbuild project on joint appointment (RIBA 0-4) together with hoopers architects, Ipswich (UK)
Rivers Hospital is a project for a new mental healthcare facility on the Hellesdon Hospital Site for Adult Acute admissions, offering assessment, treatment and rehabilitation for people who are at risk that would be unable to be safely managed in their local community.
The process sketch above was created during a joint workshop run together with our partners hoopers architects and Dr. Martin Voss (PSYCH.RAUM) in a collaborative, consensus seeking format.
The project is made up of a mixture of new wards (or biomes), a central "Hub", adapted existing wards, and landscape spaces.
The Clinical Design Brief formed the guiding element of the project. It aims to understand the therapeutic journey of service users and the interactions they have with staff of all disciplines throughout this journey. Ultimately it was used to leverage all aspects of the project – from urban context, site and architectural decisions and on to interior detail and atmosphere – to actively support the journey through providing a series of optimised and bespoke design solutions across scales.
thinkbuild worked with our partners hoopers architects and Dr. Martin Voss of PSYCH.RAUM on a joint package to fulfill our appointment which ran from RIBA Stage 0 though 4. A consensus design process was established which focused on linking designers to clinicians and service user advocates, empowering an interdisciplinary group to form the basis for critical design decisions.
thinkbuild prioritizes the creation of home-like, welcoming and recovery orientated designs for both care and learning environments. We share a vision for a re-humanisation of these important institutions, with a focus on finding a balance between the familiar and the complex in design to provide orientation, character and welcoming atmospheres.
Here, variation on the theme - like jazz, enables engagement for all users of the space. The differences in plan are the strength.
During RIBA phases 0 through 4, the Rivers project team sought to prioritise a responsible use of the existing natural resources of the site.
Existing buildings (in white) were integrated in the plan. New buildings with a large range of plan variation provided rich environment opportunities to support the establishment of a living community despite the large scale of the project.
The inside-outside Piazza space provides archetypical design elements to support spatial orientation and human-scale, recognisable opportunities for inhabitation for all members of the Rivers community.
The project engages the vertical slope of the original site, aiming to provide opportunities to engage the body in a natural fashion as people arrive or use the space. This also provides intuitive orientation, as the main entrance announces itself upon first viewing.
The hospital's central atrium is a light-filled space that serves as the heart of the facility. With high ceilings and large windows, it promotes a calming atmosphere where patients, visitors and staff can meet. The open design allows for optimal ventilation and provides pleasant acoustics. Green planting and comfortable open seating invite people to linger. As well as serving as a reception area, the atrium is also a venue for events and community activities, helping to promote healing and well-being for all.
Project Data
Location: Hellesdon, Norwich (UK)
Joint Appointment: RIBA Stages 0-4
hoopers architects with PSYCH.RAUM
(Design and Milieu Consistency)
Client: Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Trust
Surface area: 5000 sqm. + (new and existing)
Value: £30m
Project Management & Quantity Surveyor: Castons
Landscape Architect: Scheils Flynn
Visualisation: Dan Fisher of Ness Studio
Further information is available via hoopers here.
Drawing above by Ross Warren @ hooper architects