World Mental Health Day

We’re taking a moment to recognize a very significant health awareness observance on October 10: World Mental Health Day.

Since our first day, back in 1991, A|r has been working alongside healthcare providers to create safe and effective treatment environments for individuals recovering from mental illness as well as their caregivers. This commitment is more than just for design projects. It starts with understanding the perception of behavioral health challenges within our communities, the evolving needs of persons with disabilities or struggling with mental health, the dedicated staff who provide care, and the environments that make care possible.

Over the years, we have worked to make treatment facilities safer, more engaging, less institutional and more conducive to positive therapeutic outcomes. We have authored facility program standards, guideline specifications, safe workplace studies, risk assessments, environmental design standards and patient safety references.

The goal of the architect is to support patients and staff equally with an uplifting and effective treatment environment to allow them to return to their community, to their home and to their support system. A safe facility – one that exudes modern wellness design imperatives – is a critical tool for retaining and recruiting the very best mental healthcare staff.

Mental Illness has been an important topic in 2020, and our healthcare and mental healthcare providers are working harder than ever to provide truly essential services. We dedicate this month to you!

Flex Classrooms

We know that a learning experience has as much to do with our environment as it does the teachers and students that create those experiences. After the past year, we have all gained a profound appreciation of how important these are to foster development and ignite a love for learning.

What is Sustainable Design

It is a term that all have heard but few really understand. We see the term in the news, many learn about it in school, and some interact with it from time to time in daily life. So what is sustainable design?

Library Design in a Changing World

With the ever-evolving nature of teaching and learning, the academic library has already undergone a great transformation by adapting to new paradigms present in higher education. The proliferation of digital resources and scholarship has meant that access to information is everywhere and even more critical in the current circumstances.