A Home in the Woods

The State of Michigan was offering treatment for its residents with chronic mental illnesses in an outdated facility consisting of individual inpatient unit cottages. With the need for a new facility, the State enlisted architecture+ to design a modern centralized psychiatric center with a capacity of 200 beds. During the design process, statewide elections resulted in changes in administration, leading to a reimagining of the project under the new leadership. The revised project scope reduced the number of beds from 200 to 100 and established a new construction budget that was 70% of the initial funding allocation. Leveraging our proprietary database, we quickly conducted an analysis of the new scope and concluded that it was not feasible to merely “downsize the program” to carry out the project. Our modeling indicated that a more comprehensive program adjustment was required. Under our guidance, the Project Team set target values for all aspects of the building and held each discipline team accountable for adhering to the budget. This enabled us to achieve the revised budget while maintaining the overall program’s integrity. The new Caro Center was intentionally designed to minimize redundancies in staffing and support spaces while promoting a team-oriented care approach. The 100-bed facility is structured around the House-Neighborhood-Downtown model, fostering a patient experience that encourages recovery. Each of the four units features two clusters of 10 beds and one cluster of 5 beds, allowing for flexible cohorting. The forward-thinking leadership adopted a “no nurse station” design aimed at maximizing staff-patient interaction. The design takes advantage of the surrounding landscape, roughly 30 acres with views of the nearby Cass River, which forms a natural barrier of ravines and forests. This creates a striking and secluded environment for healing. To further allow patients to connection with nature, a collection of courtyards provides opportunities for outdoor access for reflection, exercise, and therapeutic activities.