Thomas Embling Hospital SPICU

Thomas Embling Hospital is Victoria’s principal secure forensic mental health facility. To accommodate projected demand over the next decade, DesignInc, working with MAAP, prepared a master plan for the campus. DesignInc was subsequently engaged to design and oversee delivery of a new eight bed Secure Psychiatric Intensive Care Unit (SPICU). An infill extension to the existing facility provides ten further beds. Biophilic design concepts inspire the language and materiality of the scheme. Robust strength and security are essential yet are discreetly achieved, while visual connections to nature, warm earthy materials and sunlit interiors create a calm, deinstitutionalised experience.