Summary:
– Design reduced square footage through shared spaces.
– Facility still meets care and service needs.
– Project remains within approved budget.
OKLAHOMA CITY — The architect for the MAPS 4 mental health and addiction restoration center presented designs Tuesday for “a building that is comfortable and as un-institutional as possible.”
The City Council accepted the preliminary report for the project and authorized Allford Hall Monaghan Morris to develop the final plans and specifications. That step is expected to be completed around the end of May.
Daniel Hayes, associate director at the firm’s Oklahoma City office, told the council the design maximizes connection to nature and landscaping because that has been shown to reduce stress, improve mood and help with healing and recovery.
Interior colors are warm earth tones to provide a sense of security, stability and grounding, as well as cool hues that promote calmness and reduce anxiety, he said.
The Restoration Center is a mental health and substance abuse facility that will provide inpatient crisis and detox care, as well as outpatient services and therapy.
The center is to be operated by the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services and NorthCare.
A feasibility study for the project estimated it would require 51,000 square feet. However, the designers worked with the operators closely to ensure every aspect of care would be addressed while doubling up on some of those spaces “to make a really hard-working and efficient building,” Hayes said. It came in at about 34,000 square feet.
The odd-shaped property for the construction lies between Linwood Diagonal and NW 6th Street just west of Western Avenue. An office building currently on the site will be demolished. Klein Avenue cuts through the west end of the property, which is narrower.
That made it more challenging to fit the building, parking spaces and a future supportive housing piece on the site, Hayes said.
“We’re proposing to close that very small part of the road (Klein Avenue) to allow that site to become usable,” he said. “And that requires some tweaks to 6th Street, making that a two-way street all the way along and allowing it to merge in with Linwood Diagonal.”
The Restoration Center will be on the east end of the site, supportive housing on the west end and parking located in the middle.
“The total project budget for this (Restoration Center) was just over $18.5 million and, through a lot of hard work, we managed to get our estimate to match that budget,” Hayes told the council.
The first-floor design shows separate entrances at opposite ends of the building for outpatients and inpatients.
It’s estimated that 90% of the crisis service clients will arrive with first responders and be brought in through a sally port into a secure room for assessment. Then they will go to the urgent recovery center where they can stay up to 24 hours.
Those who require additional care will move to the crisis stabilization unit where they can stay up to seven days. The unit has 16 bedrooms around a central living space and access to a secure outdoor courtyard. The nurses’ station is designed to have a clear line of sight to all doors to the bedrooms and bathrooms.
The other end of the building, with the main entrance from the parking lot into a lobby, is for outpatient services. It includes drug testing facilities, a community room, a reception/gathering area and a commercial kitchen that will serve all areas of the building.
The second floor has more outpatient spaces, including individual and group therapy rooms, along with administrative offices and collaboration space for partner agencies.
MAPS Project Manager David Todd said the supportive housing piece — where clients might go after inpatient care — currently is being discussed.
“We’re challenged to find an operator and how they want to operate it and how they can make it work,” Todd said. “It is set up to be right back there at the back end of this facility because there is a synergy between the Diversion Hub, the Restoration Center and that housing.”
He said potential operators have been interviewed, and he hopes to have an agreement to bring to the council soon.
The MAPS 4 Diversion Hub is under construction and due to be completed soon, officials said. It’s a multi-agency network that works with low-level offenders to provide a diversion away from time behind bars.
