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Architects: Woods Bagot
- Area: 7278 m²
- Year: 2014
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Photographs:Trevor Mein , Ethan Rohloff
Text description provided by the architects. The Woods Bagot-designed Nepean Mental Health Centre (NMHC) is a new insertion into the existing hospital campus and is designed to respond to the increase in demand for mental health services as a result of the growing and ageing population.
The NMHC includes 64-mental health beds servicing high dependency, acute and Specialist Mental Health Services for Older Persons. The unit will include a dedicated inpatient ward and new facilities for the outpatient day program.
The Nepean Mental Health Centre is an example of how mental health care is shifting towards creating regenerative, healing environments for recovery. The design of the unit provides a restorative health care unit, integrated into the local community and linked to the adjoining health precinct.
The hard steel and glazed exterior relates to the adjacent hospital buildings, and is contrasted with the non-institutional feel of the internal spaces and internal courtyard, where the focus is on healing by design and creating a sense of humanity and ownership.
With generous solar access, these therapeutic internal courtyards create visual connectivity and engage users with a tapestry of landscaping that changes with the passage of time, allowing regeneration to become visibly tangible.
Sensitive to the needs of patients and staff, Woods Bagot has created an environment that acts as a catalyst for the healing process.
