Thursday, July 26, 2012

Incorporating Evidence Based Design at the VA

Through the course of my internship I have noticed more and more elements of evidence based design at the VA.  The area that I noticed a specialized focus on evidence based design is in the Mental Health building.  The more I learn of the design for mental health facilities the more I am amazed.  The designers that specialize in mental health design must spend massive amounts of time learning about designing for these patients.  Most mental health patients have been through traumatic experiences, have mental illnesses, or are suicidal.  Because of the mental instability these patients overcome their environment plays a huge role in keeping them calm, comfortable, and safe.  The Mental Health building at the VA is only a small, simplified example of the extreme process it takes to design this type of facility.
VA Biloxi,MS
Because most of patients coming to the Mental Health building are suicidal EVERYTHING within their environment must be considered.  The goal at the VA is to create the space for these patients that make them feel comfortable, but not so comfortable they don’t want to leave.  The patient rooms within mental health are very simple with little furniture.  The rooms only consist of a bed and a club chair.  The bed is built into the floor and has rounded corners so they can’t hang or cut themselves. The club chair is extremely heavy and requires multiple people to move.  The furniture must be immobile to avoid them hurting themselves or others.
The windows are locked to be inoperable for patients.  The windows I made with high impact glass that won’t shatter.  The blinds are inset between two panels of the window so that the patient may not access the string to the blinds.  When the blinds are to be opened or closed a nurse must come in unlock the panel to the window, open/close and lock the window back.
VA Biloxi, MS

Studies show that anything protruding from the wall higher than 6” with an allowable depth the patient could potentially hang themselves, with that in mind there is to be no exposed string, rope, or wires and anything protruding that could allow a patient to hang themselves.  Guardrails through patient hallways are not hollow and door levels have a push pedal.
VA Biloxi, MS
When patients shower they must be supervised to a degree by the nurses. The nurses wait outside the bathroom as the patient showers.  The door of the bathroom is slanted at the top so it doesn't allow patient to hang themselves on the corner of the door.  Also with more opening at the top and bottom of the door it doesn’t create a sound barrier so the nurse may hear what the patient is doing.  The door also may be pushed either direction and has no door handle.


VA Biloxi, MS
In the bathroom there are several areas that had to be paid close attention to in the design process.  The curtain is a breakaway curtain.  In the case that the patient tries to use the curtain to hang themselves in the shower, the curtain will break free.  The sink and toilet does not hold water to keep the patient from drowning themselves.  The dispensers such as soap dispenser, paper towels, and toilet paper are all inset the wall so to not allow the patient the height or depth to hang themselves.  The mirror is made to be shatter proof so that a patient can't break it and cut themselves.
 VA Biloxi, MS
VA Biloxi, MS
All artwork that is placed in the patient areas are made of canvas and bolted to the walls.  The artwork is able to hold the weight of a person so they can’t pull the artwork off, and has a shallow depth to avoid them hurting themselves or others.


After seeing these examples of incorporating evidence based design in mental health facilities I am completely amazed at the amount of thought and research required in designing these spaces.  Although I have already spoken of evidence based design in a previous blog I wanted to elaborate and show through these examples just how important evidence based design is.

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