Architectural design of a secure forensic state psychiatric hospital.
This article describes the architectural design of a secure forensic state psychiatric hospital. The project combined input from staff at all levels of the client organization, outside consultants, and a team of experienced architects. The design team was able to create a design that maximized patient dignity and privacy on one hand, and the ability of staff to observe all patient activity on the other. The design centers around 24-bed units, broken into smaller living wings of eight beds each. Each eight-bed living wing has its own private bathrooms (two) and showers (two), as well as a small living area solely reserved for these eight patients and their guests. An indoor-outdoor dayroom allows patients to go outside whenever they choose, while allowing staff to continue observing them. The heart of the facility is a large treatment mall, designed to foster the acquisition of social, emotional, cognitive, and behavioral skills that will help patients to safely return to their communities.
Dvoskin
Joel A
JA
University of Arizona College of Medicine, 5174 N. Via de la Lanza, Tucson, AZ 85750-7077, USA.
Radomski
Steven J
SJ
Bennett
Charles
C
Olin
Jonathan A
JA
Hawkins
Robert L
RL
Dotson
Linda A
LA
Drewnicky
Irene N
IN
D001108:Architecture; D005555:Forensic Psychiatry; D006272:Health Facility Environment; D006749:Hospital Design and Construction; D006778:Hospitals, Psychiatric / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006783:Hospitals, State / Q000458:organization & administration* / Q000592:standards; D006801:Humans; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D010362:Patients' Rooms; D011329:Prisoners / Q000523:psychology*; D011330:Prisons / Q000458:organization & administration*; D018907:Privacy; D012637:Security Measures; D014481:United States