This 320-bed continuing care public psychiatric hospital melds state-of-the-art therapeutic programs and environment such that the building itself is an integral part of a patient’s treatment and recovery. Familiar elements (house, neighborhood, and downtown) are arranged to reflect the range of environments in which people live. The bedrooms, the most basic element, are clustered in houses that share adjacent active and quiet living rooms.
Neighborhoods are arranged as the patients’ domain. The downtown includes activity centers shared by the entire hospital that are located along interior streets and squares, and surrounds the village green – a secure outdoor space for activities and community events. These activity centers include a gymnasium, retail store, café, library, and exercise and movement rooms to name several. The closer one gets to the middle of the downtown, the more activity there is; quieter spaces are located further away from the center (chapel, library, art rooms).

The Hospital’s quiet, private side is expressed differently from its active downtown. The village green façade is more uniform in its use of glass, with variation to break down the scale and avoid monolithic repetition and recall the variety and commonalities of facades surrounding a New England village green.

The neighborhood provides active programming space directly outside of the houses where patients can access programs. It also creates an intermediary zone between the quiet house and the active downtown, which can be overwhelming if the patient is not ready for such a high degree of external stimulation.

The downtown provides an active space containing resources that are shared by the entire hospital. This provides patients with a sense of living and healing within a broader community while encouraging them to look forward to reconnecting and reintegrating with their communities, families, and friends. The program as a whole encourages patients to take an active role in their treatment.

Architect: Ellenzweig; Collaborating Architect: architecture+