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We need new paradigms in mental healthcare spaces. A California youth centre leads the way

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22 May 2024
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BOOKMARK ARTICLE
We need new paradigms in mental healthcare spaces. A California youth centre leads the way
  1. Leveraging design, nature and art for healing, Montage Health Ohana Campus is a behavioural health centre for youth in Monterey, California, that aims to go beyond traditional clinical care. - Ty Cole/OTTO
  2. Nestled in a hillside landscape in Monterey, the Montage Health Ohana Campus looks at care and the environment as one, designed not only to provide children and adolescents with a healing environment but promote wellbeing in families, clinicians and health caregivers as well. - Ty Cole/OTTO
  3. Conceived by American firm NBBJ, and informed by neuroscience research from its in-house fellow Dr John Medina, the 5,165-sq-m centre generates a garden-like atmosphere, with 94 per cent of the interior opening up to direct views of the outdoors. - Sean Airhart
  4. The centre combines traditional clinical care spaces – like a outpatient clinic, intensive outpatient programme, partial hospitalization programme and a 16-bed residential programme – with therapeutic areas including vegetable gardens, a music room, art room and private patios for staff to recharge. - Ty Cole/OTTO
  5. In their words, the designers strove to break away from the ‘traditional notion of mental health facilities – [with] prison-like padded walls, windowless rooms, fences, and gates.’ - Ty Cole/OTTO
  6. Organic forms, soft colour palettes and cross-laminated timber cladding work in tandem with fresh air, abundant daylight and lush greenery to lower stress, provide comfort and encourage movement and time outdoors. - Ty Cole/OTTO
  7. The Ohana Campus is one of the largest projects in the US to utilize mass timber thus far; prefabricated exterior components also ensure cost-effectiveness. - Amy Tang
  8. Art is also essential to the care ecosystem. The work of over 160 artists – curated in collaboration with Weston Collective – is represented. - Ty Cole/OTTO
  9. Driving the design of Montage Health Ohana Campus is the reality that there is an acute mental health crisis amongst kids and teens – as declared by the US Surgeon General – with the healthcare ill-equipped to rise to the care challenge. - Ty Cole/OTTO
  10. Montage Health Ohana Campus sets a valuable example for collaboration with scientists to optimize design, as well as the non-negotiable role of nature in modern healthcare. - Ty Cole/OTTO
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  1. Leveraging design, nature and art for healing, Montage Health Ohana Campus is a behavioural health centre for youth in Monterey, California, that aims to go beyond traditional clinical care. - Ty Cole/OTTO
  2. Nestled in a hillside landscape in Monterey, the Montage Health Ohana Campus looks at care and the environment as one, designed not only to provide children and adolescents with a healing environment but promote wellbeing in families, clinicians and health caregivers as well. - Ty Cole/OTTO
  3. Conceived by American firm NBBJ, and informed by neuroscience research from its in-house fellow Dr John Medina, the 5,165-sq-m centre generates a garden-like atmosphere, with 94 per cent of the interior opening up to direct views of the outdoors. - Sean Airhart
  4. The centre combines traditional clinical care spaces – like a outpatient clinic, intensive outpatient programme, partial hospitalization programme and a 16-bed residential programme – with therapeutic areas including vegetable gardens, a music room, art room and private patios for staff to recharge. - Ty Cole/OTTO
  5. In their words, the designers strove to break away from the ‘traditional notion of mental health facilities – [with] prison-like padded walls, windowless rooms, fences, and gates.’ - Ty Cole/OTTO
  6. Organic forms, soft colour palettes and cross-laminated timber cladding work in tandem with fresh air, abundant daylight and lush greenery to lower stress, provide comfort and encourage movement and time outdoors. - Ty Cole/OTTO
  7. The Ohana Campus is one of the largest projects in the US to utilize mass timber thus far; prefabricated exterior components also ensure cost-effectiveness. - Amy Tang
  8. Art is also essential to the care ecosystem. The work of over 160 artists – curated in collaboration with Weston Collective – is represented. - Ty Cole/OTTO
  9. Driving the design of Montage Health Ohana Campus is the reality that there is an acute mental health crisis amongst kids and teens – as declared by the US Surgeon General – with the healthcare ill-equipped to rise to the care challenge. - Ty Cole/OTTO
  10. Montage Health Ohana Campus sets a valuable example for collaboration with scientists to optimize design, as well as the non-negotiable role of nature in modern healthcare. - Ty Cole/OTTO
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Location
Map pointer 6 Lower Ragsdale Dr, Monterey, CA 93940, USA
Designer, Architect
NBBJ
Client
Montage Health
Neuroscience Research
Dr John Medina
Funding Support
Roberta (Bertie) Bialek Elliott
Floor Area
5,165 sq-m

Leveraging design, nature and art for healing, Montage Health Ohana Campus is a behavioural health centre for youth in Monterey, California, that aims to go beyond traditional clinical care.

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