Orygen and OYH Parkville

Orygen and OYH Parkville

The Orygen and OYH Parkville building by BLP won the top prize for Best Mental Health Design at the 2019 European Healthcare Design Awards ceremony in London.

Judged for it’s excellence in strategic vision, context, purposeful innovation, design approach and sustainability against competition from the Netherlands and Denmark, Orygen and OYH Parkville is considered a shining example of design and innovations in healthcare which will help raise the bar in healthcare design and service delivery in Europe and across the globe.

Professor Patrick McGorry AO, Executive Director of Orygen, commented:

“We are really delighted with our new facility. This award is a strong endorsement of our new approach to youth mental health facilities globally.”

Orygen and OYH Parkville is a youth mental health facility championing inclusive and universal design, where everyone is safe and welcome, and young people are empowered with choice and agency.

Orygen and Orygen Youth Health (OYH) are separately funded organisations, but have always worked side by side in providing evidenced based care paths for young people with mental health needs between the ages of 15-24 years.

On a single site in a beautiful bushland oasis in Parkville, Victoria in Australia, Orygen provides research-based services and OYH provides clinical services.

BLP were privileged to work with the Youth Participation and Engagement Team at Orygen and OYH to ensure that young people’s thoughts, feelings and priorities underpinned all aspects of the design, to deliver a facility for young people, by young people.

Consultation between members of staff and a mix of young people with a lived experience and their families, as well as young people without a lived experience.

Paul Longridge, BLP Clinical Health Planner for the project, said:

“This project has challenged us to rethink everything we think we know about how young people respond to our behaviours and the behaviour of peers and family. It has involved the most fascinating stakeholder discussions about spatial empowerment, and making young people feel comfortable.”

By engaging with the principles of Universal Design, facilities are easily utilised for different needs without isolating or excluding any population group – an important part of Orygen’s and OYH’s commitment to inclusivity.

Tonya Hinde, BLP’s Interior Design Director for the project, said:

“One of the most discussed issues with young people and clinicians was ‘inclusivity’, particularly for those in the LGBTQIA community, though our consultation process identified gender and sexual orientation discrimination is a real issue for young people and not just for those living the experience. One way we addressed this was to make all amenities in the new facility gender neutral.”

Innovative spatial planning, warm materiality, and home-like spaces and furniture challenge perceptions about what mental health care looks like.

This project is also a contender in the international 2019 INDE.Awards for “The Wellness Space” – a place for wellness that gives equal emphasis to procedure and human experience – and was shortlisted for the Public Design category in the prestigious 2019 Australian Interior Design Awards.

Ron Billard, BLP’s Director-in-Charge for the project, said:

“We feel very privileged to have worked on this ground-breaking project with such an engaged group of people. This project represents a culmination of BLP’s 24 years at the forefront of health, research and urban design. We believe its design has the power to transform the lives of many young Australians suffering from mental ill-health, and their families.”

Project Details

Project size – 8,650 m2
Project Budget – $55 million
Completion date – 2018
Building levels – 4

Project Team

Architecture, Interior Design, Clinical Health Planning

Billard Leece Partnership

BLP are a group of dynamic architects, interior designers and urban designers based in Melbourne and Sydney, who work Australia-wide and internationally across all sectors.

We have a proven track record of designing and delivering complex projects.  We develop a collaborative and comprehensive design approach unique to each client and project and aspire to produce innovative architecture. We create environments tailored to suit our clients’ expectations which provide enjoyment to the people who inhabit them.

www.blp.com.au

Photography

Ian Ten Seldam

Award winning and widely published photographer Ian Ten Seldam is an independent photographer based in Melbourne, Australia, specialising in architectural, interior and advertising photograph.

Ian’s valued client base includes NAB and ANZ, architecture and interior firms such as Carr Design Group, Woods Bagot and Geyer, plus creative and brand agencies including Principals, Six Black Pens, Zebra Direction, and The Bridge.

www.iantenseldam.com

Photo Gallery

Click on a thumbnail image to enlarge.

Design © 2020 Billard Leece Partnership. All Rights Reserved.| Images © 2020 Ian Ten Seldam. All Rights Reserved.

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