Cherry Orchard Hospital’s mental health facility wins Best Building Project
The new Child and Adolescent Mental Health Facility at Cherry Orchard Hospital in Dublin, Ireland has won the 'Best Building Project' at the Irish Healthcare Centre Awards conducted at the Royal Marine Hotel, Dun Laoghaire.
Designed by Reddy Architecture + Urbanism, the new facility at Cherry Orchard Hospital offers mental health services for young people, up to the age of 18 years.
The design brief proposed the amalgamation of a number of existing satellite departments that are in a poor state of repair and are remote from the main hospital campus into one new facility. It also required the architects to provide an inviting, open, community-based building with an overriding emphasis on a safe child and adolescent environment which should be client-friendly and encourage a close working relationship between all staff of the building.
The design of the new facility laid a special emphasis on the need for each department to have discreet dedicated entrances in view of the sensitive nature of such facilities. The design consciously broke from any approaches that could have been prompted by existing structures adjacent to the proposed site, and also developed an independent free-standing, organically-shaped building that would sit in a landscaped park. The organic form is combined with an attention to scale, materials and colour to make the facility as welcoming and empathic as possible for children and adolescents.
Accommodation is provided for two child and family community teams, an adolescent community team, an adolescent day hospital, staff training department and administration support services.
