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Much like the medical profession, healthcare design is not one area of
expertise, but many. There are acute care hospitals, surgery centers,
clinics, radiology facilities, acute and sub-acute psychiatric, and many
others. Each requires different codes, programs, equipment and each has a
very different patient base. A PHF or MHRC is a very different type of
facility; unique in its use, program, size and code requirements from other
healthcare facilities, as well as the larger psychiatric hospitals of the
past. Pacific Design Group has the experience and the resulting knowledge
pool to design a modern Psychiatric Healthcare Facility.
Site Selection
Pacific Design Group’s experience with this type and
size of psychiatric facility enables us to quickly and effectively evaluate
the appropriateness and physical feasibility of potential building sites. We
have performed these services for counties in both Northern and Southern
California.
Programming
Program, adjacencies and space sequencing
within a PHF or MHRC are critical to the effective use of the facility by
staff and the effective and safe treatment of the patients. PDG has
extensive PHF and MHRC site selection and programming experience for both
public and private entities throughout California.
Patient Safety
Patient safety is our number one goal.
Pacific Design Group will, through our experience, create spaces that
are safe, yet secure for the facility’s clients.
Consideration must be given to everything from patient privacy and
security to door and restroom hardware, to air conditioning grilles, outlets
and finishes. Through our experience with this project type, we have
resources for institutional grade door hardware, plumbing and lighting
fixtures and finishes that still provide a warm, residential feel while at
the same time meeting building code and licensing requirements for this type
of facility.
Code Analysis and Justification
Concurrently with programming and
schematic design, we perform a complete, project specific building code
analysis for a project that takes into consideration budget and site
constraints.
The completed analysis serves several purposes:
- Provides a clear understanding of construction options, resulting
constraints and trade-offs so that educated, critical decisions can be
made early in the process.
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2.Provides
building and fire officials with a code based understanding of a project
type that they rarely encounter. In sharing our experience with local
jurisdictions, we are able to resolve and reach agreement in areas of
the code that do not adequately cover this unique occupancy, thereby
resolving issues early in the design process that could cause
significant problems later. This early, interactive approach has served
us and our clients well in the past.
Psychiatric Health Facility Design
Our staff’s experience with locked
institutional occupancies and advanced knowledge of the current building
codes means that there is less of a learning curve per project; enabling PDG
to determine the best and most cost effective construction type and
structural system for each project.
Contemporary psychiatric facility
design is often based on a “Village Model” in which the plan progresses
sequentially from very public open space to semi-public space to private
space and allows for free movement of the patient and direct supervision by
staff.
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