The Victorian Health Building Authority have recently released the Guymer Bailey and MAAP Architects designs for the $462.5 million Thomas Embling Hospital expansion and appointed John Holland as the builder.
Designed for Forensicare and the Victorian Health Building Authority, the expansion intends to reduce wait times for mental health assessment and treatment, support the rehabilitation and recovery of patients in a safe and therapeutic environment, reduce incidents of mental health deterioration and self-harm and increase access to services for female patients.
With a strong project focus on rehabilitative design, Kavan Applegate, Director of Guymer Bailey spoke about the opportunity to create a legacy through the project.
“We have an opportunity in this project to make a difference. An opportunity to bring the building to life, so it may offer amenity and a positive experience in therapy to make people’s lives whole again.”
When talking about the ground-breaking design, Guymer Bailey Senior Project Architect and Project Lead, Titi Shahkouei describes the new 84 bed Mental Health Hospital as being responsive to the sensitive urban setting with an innovative response of form, materials, and scale.
“When complete, the architecture will reference the spirit and ambience of the urban and natural landscape and the connection to place and country. The new expansion will provide inpatient accommodation using the principles of biophilic design, to meet the recommendations of the Victorian Royal Commission into Mental Health, and includes refurbishments of existing hospital buildings, infrastructure upgrades and a new entry complex.”
Guymer Bailey and MAAP Architects established an extensive team of allied design professionals that include AECOM Infrastructure Professionals and their sub consultants, including Security Consulting Group, Dennis Roach, Spiire Town Planners, Approval Systems, Arch Access, DCWC Health Planners, Redback, Space 2 Develop, NDY, ID-Lab, LCI, Inhabit, Sayfa, One Mile Grid, Kate McGready, HMF, and Biosis.
“The team have been working diligently and continuously over the past year in collaboration with Forensicare and VHBA at Thomas Embling Hospital. The design methodology established an inclusive detailed design of the expansion with the inclusion and support of the Indigenous owners of the land and the consumers with a Lived Experience of Mental Health in a coordinated design methodology that enhances and establishes a true co-design experience, as recommended by the Royal Commission.” Shahkouei said.
She continued, “In their design role, the team has considered the best practice outcomes for, biophilic design, therapy, and residential living in the context of a mental health facility and have sought to passively include features into the design that offer the best pathway to recovery. The design has progressed with the active feedback and attention to outlook, daylighting and useable outdoor space in a vertical living arrangement and the constraints of security and a highly developed urban setting.”
Alexandra Kennedy, Senior Project Architect, said the team was excited to see the project moving to the next stage and that John Holland was coming on board to build it.
“One of the greatest joys of being an architect is seeing the drawings you have developed become a built form. To have the opportunity to sit with the builder and problem solve and experience the client and users seeing it all come together.”
