Welcoming spaces

Over the past decade, the rate of depression and anxiety among students has doubled. In 2019, before the Covid-19 pandemic, 90% of college counseling centers reported increased demand for their services. In a 2020 study, nearly 40% of students reported experiencing depression, one in three reported having anxiety, and one in seven had experienced suicidal thoughts in the past year. These findings have intensified the focus on student mental health and have elevated designs that enhance emotional wellness to the forefront of university projects.

Centralized & Expanded Services

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services defines mental health as encompassing “emotional, psychological, and social well-being.” This combination of characteristics can be seen in the designs of new student wellness centers, which are reframing student health services by placing medical, psychological and related services in a single building. The move to consolidation is a first step in destigmatizing care and welcoming students into new mental health practices.

By its nature, consolidation of functions in one building creates a level of ambiguity that removes the focus on the specific reason a person is visiting a facility. In its previous location, Duke University’s student counseling services had been in a building near the campus’s historic chapel. This prominent location and the single function of the counseling facility made it obvious that students seeking going there were seeking care.

Now, students entering the Duke Student Wellness Center, which opened in 2017, might be coming in for a variety of reasons: an annual physical, meeting friends in one of the building’s social spaces, sitting down to play the grand piano in the lower-level lobby, joining a group activity like a yoga class, or finding a spot with a beautiful view on the upper level, where Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) is situated beyond a lobby of pod-like and flexible furnishings.

The University of Virginia’s new Student Health & Wellness Center also has brought departments together into a single building. With multifaceted building programs, students may have a number of reasons for visiting a building, and the stigma of seeking any one service, including counseling, is diminished.

Easing Access

Making access to these facilities easy is another critical strategy for reducing anxiety for students seeking care. Placing mental health service facilities where campus activities converge makes easy access a part of every student’s daily routine. Virginia’s Student Health & Wellness Center is part of a mixed-use campus master plan designed to draw in the entire campus population and open the building’s diverse programs and services to a larger population. The development has shared public spaces, outdoor plazas, and green spaces in a planned neighborhood.

The Duke Student Wellness Center sits along a circulation route that includes a primary campus social hub, athletics, and housing. At the North Carolina School of Science and Math–Morganton (NCSSM), a new Health & Wellness Center merges fitness, physical health, and mental wellness in a building that sits along the campus’s “main street” connecting academics, residential, and athletics. Multiple entries mean a building has no “back door,” and students can take different routes to get to their destination. At Duke and NCSSM, the building can be entered on the upper and lower levels.

Lobbies are the next point of access. Transparent facades enable students to see into lobby lounges and observe the various activities occurring within the building. Comfortable furnishings add to the sense of invitation to a place where students can connect and socialize with peers. The intent is to bring together students who have similar interests and establish an environment for peer-to-peer interaction.

Beyond the lobby, multipurpose rooms, quiet meeting spots, meditation gardens, living rooms, and other adaptable spaces support diverse functions. At the Duke Student Wellness Center, the creation of flexible spaces has led to unanticipated student-led programs such as guided meditation, tea tastings, card games, meditative art, knitting groups, drum circles, painting nights, mindfulness sessions, and workshops in dance, cardio, hypnosis art and music.

At Virginia, beyond the building’s lounges, a teaching kitchen is open after hours, giving the building another appealing function. It also has flexible, shared public spaces that students use for reasons besides mental and physical health. An art gallery hosts a revolving series of student-focused installations, often displaying art created by students dealing with mental health issues; the displays help other students to recognize they are not alone. The Student Disability Access Center, designed for those with disabilities ranging from physical to learning, is off the ground floor main lobby. The space’s prominent and accessible location reverses related stigma for students needing assistance.

By providing for flexibility, designers create spaces that can change and grow naturally. Multipurpose spaces, conferencing rooms in different sizes with different levels of visibility, and quiet spots that are tucked away enable students to shape the experiences they need.

Comfort and Care

Wayfinding within these facilities balances clear circulation with a desire for ambiguity. Signage graphics can eliminate the need for what could be an uncomfortable face-to-face encounter at a reception desk. At the University of Virginia, wayfinding graphics use color, fonts, and imagery. Multiple routes to the same destination support ambiguity and can be achieved with different stair options, elevators, and entrances. At Duke Student Wellness, screening elements, such as a translucent wall that runs adjacent to the open staircase through all levels, support wayfinding and layer in a sense of refuge.

Numerous architectural and design features aid in creating spaces that reverse stigma around seeking access to mental health care. Comfortable and mobile furnishings, daylight and views, and natural materials all foster an environment of care. Duke uses river rock pebbles, stone boulders and glass curtainwall that meets the ground on the garden level to create an indoor-outdoor connection. Virginia employs material continuity to bring the sidewalk’s path into and through the building. The inclusion of bluestone or other more landscape-like materials on the interior supports the indoor/outdoor effect.

The top level of Virginia’s wellness center offers sweeping views out to campus, a bookshelf, and other thoughtful diversions for students waiting for care. The staff is also attuned to how students may feel when they enter the department. Furniture selected for the waiting area provides many different options for students, including sitting alone where they cannot be seen by or interact with other students. Reception staff can discreetly monitor waiting students and try to balance the desire for a welcoming environment with safety.

Gardens and spill-out spaces create destinations that blur the line between students seeking care and those simply enjoying a well-designed setting. A living room with comfortable furnishings is hospitable for all students. Gender-neutral restrooms—a relatively new program element—are standard at Virginia, appearing on three of four levels.

These are just a few examples of how architects can shape environments to eliminate stigma and neutralize awkward situations for students while opening opportunities for them to seek care when faced with today’s escalating levels of emotional and mental stress.

Scott Baltimore, AIA, is an Associate at Duda|Paine Architects. He was instrumental in designing the Duke Student Wellness Center, the University of Virginia’s Student Health & Wellness Center, and the Emory Student Center.

Brendan Beachler, AIA, is an Associate Principal at Duda|Paine Architects. His experience in student-centered facilities includes the Discovery Center at The Bullis School and the Quiet Room at the Duke University Cancer Center.