McKay Hlavacek Architects Opens Up Secure Environments
When McKay Hlavacek Architects in Calgary, Alberta, designed this behavioral health center (facility’s name withheld at the client’s request), one of the overriding aesthetic concerns was how to mitigate, diminish, or counteract the institutional feeling of the Mental Health Short Stay Unit (MHSSU) and the Psychiatric Intensive Care Unit (Psyc-ICU) nurse station.
Across the board, one of the biggest concerns for patient care in this type of environment of care is overcoming the pervasive stigma associated with seeking or receiving mental health care. One of the most traumatic events in a mental health crisis is the involuntary or coerced loss of autonomy, as well as the public nature of one’s arrival to a facility when the police or first responders are involved.
At this year’s MindSpaces25, a conference organized by The Center for Health Design, the focus was on design advances for behavioral and mental health environments. Experts from architectural firms with behavioral health portfolios discussed the importance of incorporating biophilic design principles and an aesthetic that made patients feel at ease rather than anxious about losing their autonomy.
Evidence-based Design Virtual Skylights Create Therapeutic Sightlines
The design team at McKay Hlavacek incorporated a curvilinear SkyCeiling that borders the main nurse station on the Psychiatric ICU floor. The virtual skylight extends over 16.8m (56 feet), providing a graceful overhead opening that gradually expands, lending a wider view of an illusory sky along the entire left side of the main nurse station before angling towards the right side. Its soft curvilinear design is its most attractive feature in an otherwise completely isolated, rectilinear and sharply angular space.
The virtual skylight gradually widens up to 1m (3.5’) before turning the corner. On the inner perimeter, the Luminous SkyCeiling meets a mechanical bulkhead that sits right over the nurse station. In an in-take ICU environment where crisis stabilization is at premium, bringing in a view to nature in an otherwise institutional settings is a huge boost to staff morale and patient relief.
McKay’s team also sought to incorporate a meaningful sightline to perceived open space within the secure perimeter of the Mental Health Short Stay Unit (MHSSU) with a pair of overhead virtual skylights. These evidence-based design (EBD) virtual skylights soften the isolated nature of the secure enclosure, also allowing the staff who monitor this hallway and the adjacent spaces, a measure of visual and spatial relief.
The more restrictive parameters for environmental design features meant the architectural team had to work with the facility’s engineers to meet the security requirements for this floor. Unfortunately, the Psychiatric ICU guidelines demand a barren interior layout devoid of furniture, movable objects, and even any trace of décor. However, the design team was able to place a 60cm x 300cm (2’ x 10’) Luminous SkyCeiling on the outer perimeter of the secure nurse station to help provide a potent visual cue that helps decompress the boxed-in, claustrophobic feeling of the space.
Credible illusory skies are potent biophilic reminders that looking up and connecting in a visceral way with our direct experience of skyward vastness offers a meaningful measure of emotional and spiritual relief. Not only does the cerulean blue calm the mind and expand our horizons, but it also modulates our thinking by expanding our perceived surroundings with a natural setting. Dissipating the feeling of entrapment and isolation is a subconscious way to de-escalate the anxiety and distress felt by those who feel agitated, vulnerable, or out of sorts.
Sky Factory is the only designer of evidence-based, virtual skylights that also provides continuing education courses on the benefits of biophilic design. Our family of Luminous SkyCeilings, OpenView Luminous Virtual Windows, and Digital Cinema applications are biophilic designed products that provide research-verified, architectural solutions for a range of healthcare and commercial spaces. To find out how Sky Factory can bring the healing presence of nature to your organization, contact us today.
