Stanislaus County Mental Health Center

A community mental health center for outpatients and outpatient care with seven buildings, including clinics, outpatient facilities, therapeutic departments for adults, teenagers and children, staff facilities, administrative offices, gardens, courts and walkways, with total area 24,000 square feet. The key item in the program was the NIMH requirement that architects work with the users to program and design the building. This was done with a team of psychiatric staff and patients, led by Dr. Hewitt Ryan. A pattern language specific to the project was developed by a C.E.S. team together with the clinic director and staff, as the first step of the design process. These initial patterns contributed to the structuring and formulation of patterns in "A Pattern Language".