Child, Adolescent, Adult Behavioral Health Services Center Breaks Ground at Santa Clara Valley Medical Center

The new Child, Adolescent and Adult Behavioral Health Services Center at Santa Clara Valley Medical Center in California has celebrated the groundbreaking for the primary phase of construction. Designed by HGA, the facility will consolidate Santa Clara County’s behavioral health offerings, including emergency psychiatric services and urgent care in one location when it opens to serve patients in fall of 2025.

The three-story, 207,000-square-foot healthcare destination will also provide space for the county to expand its services to meet the growing demand for high-quality behavioral healthcare for residents and surrounding communities.

The center will offer behavioral health facilities for multi-generational patients in a safe and therapeutic environment. Key spaces within the complex will include a 77-bed inpatient behavioral health hospital that will accommodate adults and minors on different floors, separate outpatient urgent care for minors and adults, emergency psychiatric services (with separate secured ambulance entry bays and treatment spaces for minors and adults, as well as a shared pharmacy. Additional spaces will include administrative offices, a pedestrian skyway bridge connecting to the existing emergency department and a new, 700-car parking structure.

To help lower stress for patients and staff, the design includes the use of recliners located in a quiet zone, to create a restful and calming environment with a sense of privacy for patients who often stay up to 24 hours in EPS. Staff and patient safety were also important drivers of the design.

The new center replaces the Barbara Ahrens Pavilion and Don Lowe Pavilion, which formerly housed the adult inpatient units, adult EPS and mental health urgent care. The design of the new center incorporates nature through multiple recreation yards and view gardens, large-scale biophilic graphics, large day-lit interior spaces and the use of natural materials like terracotta tile exterior cladding, high-performance glazing and exterior sunshades.

Additional project collaborators included The Cuningham Group, associate architect and medical planner; contractors Webcor, SBay Construction, and Thompson Builders; Arup, structural, mechanical, electrical and plumbing engineers, daylighting and lighting design services; Sandis, civil engineer; Charles M. Salter Associates, Inc., acoustical services; Royston, Hanamoto, Alley & Abbey (RHAA), landscape architect; Criterion Systems, equipment planning; TEECOM, telecom services; Clearstory, signage and wayfinding; Lerch Bates Inc., elevator/vertical transportation, Chandra Cerrito / Art Advisor, art consultant; and PeopleSpace, furniture consultant.

The project is designed to achieve LEED Gold certification upon completion and is one of the first psychiatric facilities in California to be designed to a new state regulatory category, OSHPD 5, for inpatient behavioral health.