Eastern State Hospital Replacement

The 29-acre site offers scenic views of an adjacent state park and a dramatic slope towards a nearby stream. The design, although modern, reflects the area’s heritage and traditional character. The material and color selections reflect the immediate surroundings to ground the project to the community it serves. The 300,000 square foot facility offers 170 inpatient psychiatric beds as well as specialized services for individuals with acquired brain injuries (12 beds), individuals with psychiatric disabilities requiring nursing facility level of care (43 beds), and forensic mental health services (25 beds).

Building planning organized around the notion of a village offers patients various levels of personal privacy along with a familiarity more like residential and less like institutional surroundings. Strategically located staff areas allow for ease of observation and minimize effort in the form of travel distance. Four courtyards are located within the hospital facility to be used for passive activities such as relaxation, socializing, and therapy. This project also includes three 11,000 square foot 16-bed personal care homes that offer less restrictive care and promote patients’ return to a community setting. These personal care homes will provide residential psychiatric services and serve as a step-down from the acute care setting.

At the outset, we projected that the precedent Master Plan and Space Program would yield a project that would cost 33% more than the budget approved by the State Legislature. We worked intensively with the State’s Department of Mental Health to identify alternatives to allow the program to be reduced by nearly 100,000 square feet with a significantly improved unit and hospital configuration delivering the project on the budget originally established.