In late 2025, a private investment partnership, St. Vincent Behavioral Health Campus LLC (Los Angeles), purchased the former St. Vincent Medical Campus in Los Angeles with plans to redevelop the nearly 8-acre property into a comprehensive behavioral health campus. Expected to open in phases over the next two years, the campus will provide recuperative, outpatient, addiction and mental health services, with approximately 800 beds across seven buildings, prioritizing treatment and temporary housing for homeless or housing-insecure patients.
The campus is currently undergoing seismic retrofitting, including updates to mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems and fire life safety upgrades. Structural work to prepare the site for construction has started, but permits are still being secured for some of the buildings.
While that process is underway, Shay Yadin, co-owner of St. Vincent Behavioral Campus LLC and a principal on the project, saw an opportunity to partner with two arts organizations to activate one of the buildings creatively. “So why not do something creative with it in the meantime,” he says.
The result is “Hospital of Emotions,” an immersive pop-up exhibition that opened in July. Presented by curator House of Art & Dreams (Los Angeles) and ROYVA Group (Los Angeles), a company specializing in large-scale, immersive art exhibits, the exhibition features installations by more than 70 artists across 80 former patient and clinical rooms on five floors.
Future St. Vincent Behavioral Health Campus hosts “Hospital of Emotions”
Organized around eight emotion-inspired themes, including joy, fear, hope and resilience, the exhibit uses the historic medical setting to spark a broader conversation about mental health. “This exhibit activates a space to raise awareness for behavioral health because there’s a lot of taboo around it,” Yadin says. “People don’t want to talk about it, but art is a universal language and helps to open up that conversation.”
The exhibition runs through September, after which the building will enter the construction phase to become a recuperative care center. Yadin says the goal is to have the new behavioral campus operational by summer 2028.
The project is already advancing the mission of St. Vincent Behavioral Health. “People have already reached out to us to say they’ve been to the exhibit, and it inspired them to seek services here,” Yadin says. “It’s all going toward the mission.”
For more on the “Hospital of Emotions” exhibit, visit hospitalofemotions.com.
Robert McCune is senior editor of Healthcare Design and can be reached at [email protected].
