Step Exhibitions
28 Gardens at the Springfield University Hospital, Tooting
Nominee Information
Over the past decade a consensus emerged in the 600+ meetings, workshops, open days, and reviews we held with the staff, carers and service users that will soon occupy the Springfield University Mental Health Hospital. A top priority was to imbue the new hospitals with daylight, fresh air, and most importantly, direct access to planted gardens… gardens not sterile courtyards. Gardens to observe the changing seasons and register the sights, smells and textures of living nature. Gardens to sit outside in sunshine or in shade and watch clouds drift overhead. Gardens for ping pong, aerobics, gentle walking outdoor dining, gardening, ward meetings or just a quiet place to sit. Gardens to bring biodiversity, biophilia and
therapeutic relief into a high-density mental health facility.
In post-occupancy surveys, all types of users: staff, visitors and patients regard gardens and outdoor spaces as the most appreciated and beneficial hospital features. The challenges of providing these facilities within a multi-storey mental health hospital demanded creating gardens within the hospital as opposed to around it. Seen from above, the buildings are hollowed out with courtyards for allotment gardens, activity gardens, quiet gardens, covered atrium gardens, and planted viewing gardens.
The planning and design of mental health buildings is unique in that service users have a wide variety of long-term needs that must be met entirely within the facility. Our design mantra was to create therapeutic and biophilic environments that assist service users towards recovery, and to provide staff with a high-quality, safe environment that shows how much their work is valued. This developed into a series of garden design principles which have been incorporated throughout the project:
• Each inpatient ward has 1 or more large outdoor courtyard garden
• The main courtyard garden is an extension of the day and dining space, which is suitable for active use and is sized to accommodate all service users on the unit.
• A second outdoor ward garden is located adjacent to the therapy/group consultation rooms and is designed for quiet contemplation or conversations.
• Seasonal planting: each outdoor space has a different character, to create a variety of smells, textures and visual appearances throughout the seasons.
• All outdoor spaces are oriented to be easily observed from a central nursing station/ward base.
• All outdoor spaces have step-free, direct access for service users.
• Outdoor spaces have a covered space at the external threshold for use in inclement weather.
• Gardens are designed to encourage healthy activities, exercise, and positive social interaction.
Springfield University Hospital consists of two buildings, Shaftsbury and Trinity, at the centre of an estate regeneration comprising 890 new homes, roads, infrastructure and a 32-acre public park. In total the hospital comprises 34,300m2 new-build mental health facilities, inpatient wards, outpatient consulting suites, support services, carparks, teaching facilities, neighbourhood retail shops and a combined heat & power district energy centre. The hospital is scheduled to open in the autumn of 2022.
