The Department of Health and Human Services consolidated two aging psychiatric hospitals located in Raleigh and Butner, North Carolina into a single new 432 bed facility located in Butner, North Carolina.  The Freelon Group in association with Cannon Design, our Psychiatric Healthcare Planner, designed the new 450,000 SF prototype facility.   The new Central Region facility includes patient populations consisting of Geriatric, Adult Rehabilitation, Adolescent, Clinical Research, Forensic, Medical, Deaf and Pre-Trial.  The facility is centered around a Treatment Mall where the majority of the patients receive care in a campus-like setting through structured classes to facilitate their rehabilitation.  The facility also includes a cafeteria, administration, engineering, and other requirements for a free-standing state-of-the-art psychiatric hospital.


The vision for the new North Carolina Psychiatric Hospital constitutes the philosophical foundation that will guide development and growth of treatment services into the future.  It includes a series of goals intended to bring the highest level of psychiatric care to the central region of North Carolina.  These goals include: The establishment of a normalizing environment that aids in the rehabilitation of patients; Planning for managed change; Provision of a strong sense of community; and Direct and meaningful connections to the landscape.  New treatment models for psychiatric care focus on normalizing connections to the landscape and providing spaces to accommodate the teaching of social skills.


The site for the North Carolina Psychiatric Hospital of approximately 120 acres is sloped and heavily wooded. In order to minimize the impact of the half-million square foot complex on the site, a language of site walls and linear volumes was established that weave the building into the landscape. These walls allow the building to gently step down the sloped terrain and also provide a threshold for three distinct programmatic zones of the building.   

ARCHITECT OF RECORD
The Freelon Group

ASSOCIATE DESIGN ARCHITECT/ ENGINEER
Cannon Design

Model Photography: Keith Parsley Studio

Building Photography: Michael Mills