Architecture & Design for Mental Health
The more severe a mental illness is, the more profound the tendency will be to become over-reactive to certain settings (particularly to bad ones) and under-stimulated by others (particularly nice ones).
Everybody reacts and responds to the physical environments they’re in and often in profound ways. Architecture and mental health are directly linked - just look at someone’s behaviour in a grand place of worship, against how the same person acts when they’re visiting a 7-11. But nobody is more subject to the environment than those who suffer mental illness. The more severe a mental illness is, the more profound the tendency will be to become over-reactive to certain settings (particularly to bad ones) and under-stimulated by others (particularly nice ones). What’s really important here is that these unusual reactivity patterns reflect the nature of the mental illness that people suffer from and may even make them worse.
Good design of mental health architecture can provide relief and recovery to include:
Psychosis & schizophrenia
Depression, mood ‘affective’ disorders and bipolar disorders
Anxiety disorders and Post-traumatic Stress injuries
Self-harm and violence
Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity disorders
Dementia and other organic disorders that have a mental dimension
Good design for mental health understands these dynamics and is able to make reasonable predictions about environments that will either exacerbate or mitigate symptoms and suffering. It doesn’t mean padded cells to limit the potential damage when someone is known to be violent, it means beautiful, generous and otherwise extraordinary environments that never lead to this behaviour and thinking pattern in the first place. This understanding is far from common knowledge. It’s not intuitive, is not prescribed by any architectural guidelines and is not taught in architecture schools anywhere, yet it is the core business of Psychological Design. Dr. Golembiewski (our director and principal architect) has dedicated the last 14 years to researching and exploring this juncture between neuroscience and design
Some of our affiliations
Centre for Mental Health and Urban Design
Fellow
Schizophrenia Research Institute
Fellow
Dementia Training Australia
Expert Reference Group Fellow
Alzheimer’s Disease International
Key author of 2020 Dementia + Design Guidelines
Some of our research on Mental Health Architecture
Golembiewski, J. (2019). Neuroscience of mental illness in the city. Urban Mental Health. D. Bhugra, A. Ventriglio and J. M. Castaldelli-Maia. Oxford, UK, Oxford University Press: 108-120.
Golembiewski, J. (2016). "The designed environment and how it affects brain morphology and mental health." HERD 9(2): 161-171.
Golembiewski, J. (2014). "Mental health facility design: The case for person-centred care." Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry 49(3): 203-206.
Golembiewski, J. (2013). "Lost in Space: the role of the environment in the aetiology of schizophrenia." Facilities 31(9/10): 427-448.
Mental Health Design Work
Quest for Life Foundation (2019)
Al Wakra Centre for Respite and Recovery - Knowledge Leader (2014)
Gosford New Mandala Mental Health Facility (2007)
