DSHS facility earns international design award
The treatment center is designed to help with healing and remove barriers to treatment
The Oak Unit at DSHS’ Maple Lane Behavioral Health and Treatment Center in Thurston County has earned international praise for how its layout helps facilitate treatment and healing. The facility earned a Healthcare Design award from the International Interior Design Association. BCRA Design of Tacoma and BWBR designed the facility using principles of trauma-informed architecture. Elements like an open floorplan, collaborative treatment spaces and windows that incorporate nature into the facility help facilitate healing by ensuring the physical environment isn’t a barrier to treatment.
Oak Unit has already received praise for its unique features supporting the treatment of its residents. The design was intended to create a warm, comforting atmosphere for residents, including a spacious area for patients to interact, and natural lighting.
According to BRCA, “The home-like environment emphasizes connection to daylight and the outdoors in multiple areas, such as a nature nook bay window for respite, ample windows with views, and an outdoor courtyard.”
Oak Unit was also designed as a zero net energy usage building, including more than 200 solar panels, a high-efficiency heat recovery system, and site retention and treatment ponds to manage stormwater.
At Oak Unit’s opening in January 2023, Gov. Jay Inslee noted, “It is a cutting-edge facility because it has been designed with compassion, it was built with efficiency, and it is going to be operated with the new ways that we want to treat our neighbors and family members with the best mental health available to them.”
In a press release announcing the awards, the International Interior Design Association said the awards recognize design firms for creativity and innovation in the design of health care facilities.
“This year’s winners transformed the health care environment through their strategic placement of color, texture, and artwork,” Paul Cooper, IIDA, CHID said on behalf of the jury. “Their projects not only evoke a feeling of comfort and safety, they demonstrate an understanding of the technical demands of these spaces.”
The design of Oak Unit is being used as a model for the units at Brockmann Campus residential treatment facility in Clark County, set to open in the fall of 2025.