Step Exhibitions
The University of Kansas Health, Strawberry Hill Campus
Nominee Information
The Strawberry Hill Behavioral Health Hospital is a vacant government office building transformed into a 48-bed inpatient mental health hospital in the heart of Kansas City, Kansas. The facility not only provides much needed mental health services to an underserved area, it also initiated a significant economic boost to the area with job creation, new retail spaces and more. The location elevates public awareness of mental health treatment, ultimately reducing stigma and creating a much-needed community resource.
Throughout the design process, emphasis was placed on creating a healing and therapeutic environment for patients and staff. The design takes advantage of the four-story central atrium, along with plenty of views toward the city skyline and the Missouri River. The atrium also brought the outdoors inside, with planter beds on each level and vertical green walls.
The community was included in the design process from the start. Residents, city officials and state organizations attended an open house, Q&A sessions, walk and talks downtown and construction tours. Locating the hospital downtown allowed for a close connection to the University of Kansas Health System’s main campus, as well as the community it serves. Since opening, the area has seen a boost in new vitality and development, including a new, urban grocery store.
Flexibility was a crucial component during renovation. Knowing that the number of patients fluctuates along with the needs of those patients, a unit design that could easily adapt to those changes was paramount. By creating three separate pods, or neighborhoods, within a single 24-bed unit, the pods can operate as one large unit, as two smaller units, or three smaller units by controlling a series of cross-corridor doors. This flexibility provides the care team with the ability to separate populations by gender, age or diagnosis. Each unit neighborhood has a clinical team station that provides visibility to the neighborhood, along with a multi-purpose activity room.
The Strawberry Hill Campus is important and should be considered for this award because it transformed the following:
-The University of Kansas Health System’s service line: It created a centralized mental health campus, aligned the interior space of care with the institution’s model of care and expanded access to mental healthcare.
-A vacant building: A long empty former government office building was renovated to fill a healthcare need and revitalize the surrounding neighborhood.
-Downtown Kansas City and its underserved community: The Strawberry Hill neighborhood has a history of empowerment, and this building was designed in collaboration with community stakeholders to ensure it would have a positive impact on Strawberry Hill.
