Stanford Health Care’s 30-bed Inpatient Psychiatric Program is being removed from its acute-care services and relocated to its existing triangular nursing units that are slated for a full renovation. This project will provide mental health services on par with the New Stanford Hospital, which Perkins Eastman also designed.

With this move comes the opportunity to transform the existing program and create a safer, homelike, healing environment that supports a more therapeutic patient experience. The project includes two locked units that serve  high- and low-acuity adults, including geriatric-psych patients. These units are created with open, living-room-style spaces with group- and skill-building activity areas lining a circular ambulation path in alignment with the milieu-based therapy approach. Safety and security are paramount in the design, with clear sightlines from the care stations and the incorporation of staff staging areas directly off the care stations.

Additional spaces include treatment rooms for innovative therapies such as transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), sensory modulation rooms, and observation rooms. These spaces support Stanford’s mission as a teaching and research hospital. Every opportunity to access daylight, garden views, and the outdoors is taken by embracing the benefits of biophilia, utilizing the existing courtyard gardens and newly developed, secured patient courts.