Partners In Recovery – New Gilbert Gateway Campus

Date

March 2015 – July 2016

Client

Partners in Recovery (PIR)

Status

Complete

Location

Gilbert, Arizona

Size

23,035 SF

Project description

This interior renovation to an existing building was completed for Partners in Recovery (PIR), a non-profit organization that provides innovative and client-centered behavioral health and counseling services in outpatient settings.  As PIR’s flagship facility, it combines traditional primary-care health services, psychiatry and counseling with wellness programs.  Adaptive Architects worked with a team of patients, staff and PIR leadership in programming this innovative facility with the goals of erasing physical and psychological barriers to care, promoting member wellness and recovery, and enhancing staff satisfaction.

Design was driven by the idea that built environments can contribute to improved patient outcomes, unlike traditional institutional clinic design.  PIR aspired to create a welcoming facility filled with light, color and warmth.  Thoughtful design and interior finishes, innovation and technology reinforce the concepts of wellness, recovery and respect for patients being served to help remove the stigma historically associated with behavioral healthcare facilities. Patients are greeted by a welcoming lobby with a pharmacy, snack shop and access to public computers. An open and easily accessible floor plan helps guide patients from public areas to increasingly private spaces.  Next, flexible classrooms transition into health clinic areas with a medical assistant check-in station, exam rooms and lab spaces.  “Huddle spaces” encourage collaboration between primary and behavioral health care providers.  Case management areas require the most privacy and are farthest from the lobby.  Sightlines and open views are maintained to support staff safety and coordination and increase lightness and openness.

Innovation and technology are key elements.  Innovative client support spaces include a flexible fitness center that offers exercise equipment, Zumba and yoga classes.  A teaching kitchen, meditation space and classrooms promote healthy living concepts to create opportunities for success.  A client-run snack bar at the lobby offers employment opportunities and work experience and complements the available employment services features.  Integrated technology improves clinical efficiencies, patient outcomes and staff satisfaction.  Telemedicine allows a larger doctor pool to treat patients, while electronic dictation booths for doctor use provides real-time records updates and reduces the need for paper storage areas.

PIR’s Gateway Campus is redefining the treatment approach, environment and patient outcomes for behavioral healthcare.