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Not just another Most children have days when they don’t want to go to school and the thought of noisy, cramped canteens and busy school corridors fill them with dread. For children with special educational needs, the challenges and anxieties surrounding the school environment can be loaded with sensitivities, perceptions and heightened emotions. While mental health and SEN schemes are specifically designed to respond to users’ varying emotions, many school buildings under-utilise building design as a way of improving mental wellbeing. This is poignant considering approximately one in 10 children suffers from a mental health issue. Schools Secretary Ed Balls said the government's Building Schools for the Future programme will continue despite spending cuts (as explored by Radio 4’s Today programme). 140 schools have been rebuilt or refurbished with 1000 projects in the pipeline. Furthermore, the British Council for School Environments (BCSE) has launched a charter (view PDF) to campaign for an improved standard of school environments. To improve the standard of all school buildings, it is perhaps useful to recognise the similarities in the design approach towards a special educational needs school building and a mental health scheme. Special educational needs include a range of mental health issues, such as learning and behavioural difficulties. The design of the Nightingale Associates’ new-build Castle School in Newbury, West Berkshire, is tailored to meet the needs of up to 30 students with various learning difficulties, including autistic spectrum disorder, and aims to maximise the spatial quality of the teaching spaces using natural daylight, the best surrounding views and protection from sources of noise. Environments must be flexible, not only in terms of space, but also to match children’s varying moods and emotions. By transforming spatially generic areas into defined zones containing flexible and sensory responsive spaces, school environments can help reduce feelings of enclosure by managing environmental stimuli. While aiming to provide a practical, flexible and healthy SEN environment, the ergonomics and aesthetics of the Castle School’s design promotes mental wellbeing by drawing upon mental health design approaches. Every scenario and product specification is fully considered in both the design of SEN buildings and in mental health environment. For example, for Nightingale Associates’ Children and Adolescents Mental Health Services (CAMHS) scheme the client brief was for a safe, light, non-institutional and innovative building, which would de-stigmatise the mental health environment. The result was a building that, through consultation with users and staff, is child-orientated with varied and interesting spaces to support their activities and moods, is warm and welcoming with a remarkable use of art integrated into the fabric of the building to give a unique sense of place. To achieve the Government’s Every Child Matters targets, we need to ensure school buildings respond to children’s needs; the approach to the design of mental health and SEN buildings, with their exhaustive attention to detail and extensive consideration of end users, can be applied all school buildings to provide enjoyable learning environments that respond to the ever-shifting moods and needs of children. |
The Castle School, 
Chalkhill CAMHS Unit, 
Abstract Sensory learning environment research project gets underway
Nightingale Associates' research project to explore the impact of sensory design in optimal learning environments has begun More Read The Times Education Supplement coverage here 
Nightingale Associates shortlisted for five awards 
The results are in…from LIFT to Green Apple, Nightingale Associates has been shortlisted for a total of five awards. More |
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Disclosed 
Did you know that Nightingale Associates has completed 107 mental health commissions? To enrich this expertise, practice mental health lead, Martha McSweeney, held an International Symposium, hosted by Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust at The National Centre for Mental Health, Birmingham. The event was chaired by Femi Oyebode, Professor and Head of the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Birmingham, and Francis Pitts Principal of US based firm Architecture+, spoke about his current European tour of psychiatric hospitals and his experience in America. Martha commented: “Fundamental conclusions were drawn from comparing the approaches to mental health design across continents. There are key variations between the service model, care pathway and approach to risk. Understanding this helps challenge the way we approach mental health design.” |
Events 
The spot-light was on the unveiling of the BedPod at the Design Council last month. The three day ‘Design for Patient Dignity’ event was covered by the national media as Health Minister Ann Keen and celebrities such as Michael Parkinson tried and tested all the new healthcare innovations. More.
Addressing the International Academy for Design and Health Australasian Symposium in Sydney, Kieren Morgan, Architect and Director of Design Research and Innovation, presented a paper on ‘Responsive design: the patient and the environment’, drawing links on wellbeing and sustainable design.
Forthcoming events include: Education 2010, National School Environments Week Enhancing Mental Health Environments |
The Exchange 
Our experts can be found commenting on current affairs from climate change to education policy. Why not join in the debate? We would like to hear your opinion on where design can play a fundamental role in improving our public services.
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