Ipswich Hospital Mental Health Acute Inpatient Services – Hassell

Nominee Information

A foundation of healing underpins an environment that nurtures wellbeing and mindfulness. Architecture, interior design and landscape work together to establish a holistic setting of calm to restore dignity to the healing journey, normalise mental health care in the community and deliver a new benchmark for recovery-orientated care in Australia.

Through over 90 separate engagement sessions, Hassell collaborated with consumers, carers, clinicians, allied health professionals, operations staff, and community groups to understand all needs and develop considered responses through co-design. Meaningful engagement with First Nations representatives has delivered a welcoming and culturally safe environment with integrated landscaped spaces, native planting, bush medicine gardens, light-filled interiors, access to open views, and a colour palette that reflects Country and curated artworks by local artists.

The site occupies a full block, forming a new edge between the hospital campus and local residential streets. The building’s scale, form, and articulation, with its rich façade and network of integrated courtyards, sensitively stitches into the suburban context while delivering efficient thermal performance.

The building is legibly organised, with volumes of space and light, outdoor connectivity and high-quality materials. The building is set in the surrounding landscape and creates a setting for the landscape within.

Sunlit rooms and corridors and accessible verdant courtyard gardens improve wellbeing and support the healing process through a constant connection to nature. Openness and transparency, enabled by a glazed perimeter and lightwells, ensure passive observation across floors and maximise safety for all.

The courtyards and landscaping are the crowning glory, with the building capturing and funnelling cool breezes and lush vegetation, diminishing any feeling of a sterile environment and enabling constant views and connection to nature. The gardens create places for retreat and socialisation, support mindful hobbies like gardening and encourage time spent in Queensland’s mild, subtropical climate.

Internal planning allows each inpatient pod to be safely occupied by different patient cohorts while allowing direct access to therapy and support spaces that are shared, maximising functional efficiency. Patient bedrooms, social areas, and gardens are appointed with a warm and natural palette selected through consultation with Indigenous community representatives to reflect Country. References to sandstone are expressed through colour selection, material layering and fine-grain textures, while colours of native eucalyptus are woven throughout. Timber is used where people encounter the building fabric to provide a warmth of touch.

Dedicated staff areas promote attraction, satisfaction and retention rates. The design extends a warm welcome for family and loved ones and integrates spaces that support their participation in the healing process.

A range of sustainability benefits are realised, particularly an ambitious social impact agenda that seeks to dismantle barriers to seeking help by creating a place where people feel safe to undertake the complex mental health healing journey. Integrated courtyards, lightwells, roof terraces, social spaces, window seats, generous views out – all these design elements work together to create a place that brings comfort and a sense of connection with the outside world at a time of significant vulnerability for those seeking help.