Greenville, South Carolina
Architect: Neal Prince + Partners Architects
The Greenville Mental Health Center is a facility of the South Carolina Department of Mental Health and provides quality mental health services to adults, children, adolescents, and their families. The South Carolina Department of Mental Health commissioned Neal Prince + Partners Architects to design the facility on the 3-acre-site of the former Greenville General Hospital. Through the consolidation of multiple services into one building, the department hoped to maximize square footage and cost efficiency.
The Greenville Area Mental Health Center is a two-story facility completed in January 2003. The building features administrative and medical offices for the agency; a 7,200-square-foot treatment area specifically for children with an exterior playground; counseling and evaluation areas for adolescents and adults; group therapy space; and a 2,000-square-foot multipurpose educational auditorium. In addition, the facility houses the agency's CRS services, which include a non-hospital indigent care program, counseling for the Greenville area's homeless population, and the Toward Local Care Program that provides care to those with persistent illness.
Neal Prince + Partners provided master planning, site design, building design, and interior design services. To accommodate the client's desire for a prairiestyle building, the architect responded with low pitched roof lines, large overhangs, and rich masonry detailing. Normal size brick veneer accentuate the building's prairie style elements. To increase cost efficiency, the building utilized a pre-fabricated panelized load bearing metal stud structural system with composite deck elevated concrete slabs. The metal roofing panels were selected for low maintenance and life cycle savings. The architect also used wood clad window expanses in appropriate locations as a day lighting strategy and to reinforce the prairie design.
The Greenville Area Mental Health Center allows the various mental health services to share parking, administrative, utility, and some lobby spaces, while keeping each of the mental health services compartmentalized. The building features an airy two volume main lobby with a separate children's lobby and play area. Bright colored furniture and the use of acoustical 'clouds' help clients feel at ease while breaking the 'stark' medical stereotype. In the administrative and office areas, greater efficiency was achieved through a central employee break room and a central filing location fitted with a movable file system. The Greenville Area Mental Health Center also features extensive landscaping with courtyards and sidewalks, allowed by the maximization of the parking layout. There are also separate entrances for the CRS and counseling clients.
The S.C. Department of Mental Health gives priority to adults, children, and their families affected by serious mental illnesses and significant emotional disorders. They believe that people are best served in or near their own homes or the community of their choice. As part of this mission, they also commissioned the Grcer Mental Health Center due to be completed in 2004 and also designed byNeal Prince + Partners Architects.
CONSTRUCTION TEAM
GENERAL CONTRACTOR: Choate Construction Co.
5960 Fairview Road, #500, Charlotte, NC 28210
STRUCTURAL ENGINEER:
Professional Engineering Associates, Inc.
RO. Box 8836, Greenville, SC 29604
ELECTRICAL & MECHANICAL ENGINEER:
McCracken & Lopez, PA
P.O. Box 32515, Charlotte, NC 28232
LANDSCAPEARCHITECT: New Urban Concepts
1500 North Main Street, Greenville, SC 29609
COST ESTIMATOR: Conceptual Estimates
158 Pickering Drive, Murrells Inlet, SC 29576
GENERAL DESCRIPTION
SITE: 3.06 acres.
NUMBER OF BUILDINGS: One.
BUILDING SIZES: First floor, 27,406; second floor, 15,089; total, 42,495 square feet.
BUILDING HEIGHT: Floor to floor, 12'8''; total, 34'.
BASIC CONSTRUCTIONTYPE: New.
FOUNDATION: Poured in place concrete.
EXTERIORWALLS: Load bearing metal studs with brick veneer.
ROOF: Standing seam metal.
FLOORS: Carpet, VCT, tile, sports flooring.
INTERIORWALLS: Metal studs, drywall.
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ARCHITECT
NEAL PRINCE + PARTNERS ARCHITECTS
110 W. North Street, Ste. 300
Greenville, SC 29601
www.neal-prince.com
FILE UNDER
MEDICAL
MD040726
Greenville, South Carolina
