FIRST LOOK: University of Washington Behavioral Health Teaching Facility
SRG Partnership Inc.
The University of Washington Behavioral Health Teaching Facility: The building’s simple form and modern expression connect it to the brick context of the university’s campus while evoking a more contemporary, non-institutional character.
SRG Partnership Inc.
University of Washington Behavioral Health Teaching Facility: The expression of the façade differs by the type of activities that occur inside. The façade expression at the patient rooms features terra cotta rainscreen framing large, punched windows, while public and therapy spaces are highlighted through a lighter expression with glass and accent materials of metal and high-performance concrete panels.
SRG Partnership Inc.
The University of Washington Behavioral Health Teaching Facility: A large wood reception desk in the main lobby evokes a tree trunk, enhancing the building’s connection to its Pacific Northwest location.
SRG Partnership Inc.
The University of Washington Behavioral Health Teaching Facility: Clean modern furnishings with warm fabrics reinforce a calming interior environment inspired by the natural world. Therapy and day rooms are organized with a southeast orientation to optimize views to the adjacent tree canopy surrounding the campus. Upper-level outdoor terraces are carved out of the façade and available to behavioral health patients on the upper floors through scheduled activity times.
SRG Partnership Inc.
The University of Washington Behavioral Health Teaching Facility: Interior furnishings in the behavioral health units are designed for patient safety with simple, modern forms to eliminate ligature hazards. Large windows that extend up to the ceilings allow daylight to penetrate deep into patient rooms.
SRG Partnership Inc.
The University of Washington Behavioral Health Teaching Facility: To create a comforting environment, the design maximizes access to daylight and surrounding natural views while employing a minimal and natural palette that eases stress for patients, families, visitors, and caregivers.
SRG Partnership Inc.
The University of Washington Behavioral Health Teaching Facility: Landscaping is visible through floor-to-ceiling glazing in the public lobby, maximizing access to daylight and connections to the outdoors.
SRG Partnership Inc.
The University of Washington Behavioral Health Teaching Facility: The simple T-form of the building meetings the constraints of a tight site and provides opportunities to integrate into the medical campus’s existing infrastructure. Skybridges at the second floor provide access to the emergency department, while the architectural expression of the materials ties into the context of the rest of the campus.
The State of Washington, which was one of the lowest ranking states in 2019 in access to mental healthcare, passed a bill in April 2021 to improve access to behavioral health care by establishing a new teaching hospital on the University of Washington (UW) Medical Center’s Medical Campus in Seattle.
Scheduled for completion in September 2023, the six-story UW Behavioral Health Teaching Facility will address the critical shortage of care and providers with 100 new mental health beds and interdisciplinary, collaborative education space for the next generation of mental health caregivers.
Additionally, the facility will integrate patient-centered mental and physical healthcare with 50 medical/surgical beds, providing a continuum of services from medication management and neuromodulation treatments to physical care.
The 184,000-square-foot project is designed to be open and inviting to the medical campus and surrounding community with amenity spaces on the ground floor, including dining for the entire medical campus, as well as calming interiors flooded with natural light. A residential atmosphere is fostered through open-concept social spaces as well as outdoor spaces that connect patients to fresh air, nature, and exercise, such as dedicated, on-unit landscaped terraces.
The building is targeting LEED Gold with an expected Energy Use Intensity of 65.4 kBtu/sf-year, outperforming the Seattle Energy Code by 6.5 percent and the University of Washington Green Building Standard by 15 percent.
Project details for University of Washington Behavioral Health Teaching Facility:
Location: Seattle
Expected completion date: September 2023
Owner: University of Washington
Total building area: 184,000 sq. ft.
Total construction cost: $244 million
Cost/sq. ft.: $1,326
Architecture firm: SRG Partnership Inc.
Interior design: SRG Partnership Inc.
General contractor: Clark / Abbott Joint Venture
Engineering: KPFF in collaboration with CM Design Group (civil), Thornton Tomasetti in collaboration with Lund Opsahl (structural), Mazzetti in collaboration with Modern Mechanical, Bogard Engineers, and The Greenbusch Group (mechanical), McKinstry (mechanical contractor), PAE Engineers (electrical), Veca Electric & Technologies LLC (electrical contractor)
Lighting: HLB Lighting Design Inc.
Builder: Clark / Abbott Joint Venture
Landscape: OJB in collaboration with Osborne Consulting
