Lawrence Group recently designed a new, cutting-edge behavioral health inpatient unit that supports SSM Health’s commitment to advancing the accessibility and availability of mental health resources in the St. Louis region.
Located on the renovated fifth floor of Bordley Tower at the Saint Louis University Hospital Campus in midtown St. Louis, SSM Health’s new 42 bed/bath Behavioral Health Inpatient Unit thoughtfully repurposes aging infrastructure into a modern, comforting environment centered around therapeutic, safe healing and recovery.
Designed by Lawrence Group’s Healthcare Studio, the renovated 26,884-sq-ft space, formerly utilized as inpatient Med Surg and ICU units, employs high level behavioral health compliant design elements and custom, nature-inspired murals to create a healing atmosphere for patients and caregivers alike.
“Our goal for the overall design of this unit was to create an environment for healing that prioritizes patient and staff safety, while also promoting patient dignity,” said Lawrence Group Architect Colleen Goodwin.
The inpatient unit is made up of four, self-sufficient pods of 10-11 patient rooms each, supported by a shared core that has functions for laundry, staff breaks and restrooms, nourishment, and staff workspaces.
“The pod system provides better control and better patient care as each nurse is only caring for 10-11 patients. Extensive use of glass at the nurse stations helps eliminate blind spots. Careful use of artwork helps de-institutionalize the environment, thereby ensuring a better patient recovery outcome,” said Goodwin.
The patient room layout also provides for a less institutional environment with its dorm style design, individual restroom with saloon door, and private space.
Nurse stations are strategically located to offer expansive visibility across the facility’s color-coded wings, ensuring efficient observation and support to patients while affording a degree of separation for staff who are charting or getting medications.
“Staff safety was of the utmost concern, so the nurse stations provide a safe zone carefully designed with staff feedback and coordination with the trades,” said Lawrence Group Senior Interior Designer Becky Egan, NCIDQ. “All are wrapped in laminated safety glass with vertical aluminum stanchions strategically placed to provide extra vertical support and allowing for small openings to assist with communication between patients and staff.”
The design also includes quiet rooms, consultation rooms, and medication stations. Designers incorporated soft curves into the patient corridor walls, and radiused edges on the wood-look elements on the ceilings and outside corners of the nurse stations to soften the hard lines typical of most clinical spaces and to add visual interest to the spaces where patients spend most of their time. With the patient corridors, day dining and consult rooms all being inboard, the wall-protection printed artwork helps to bring biophilic elements into the interior spaces while the four accent colors help to identify each unit.
“The day/dining rooms in each pod were intentionally designed to support therapeutic interactions between patients and staff combining safety, dignity, and critical sightlines to ease observation. In addition, tamper resistant millwork within the nourishment areas and flexible open spaces allow furniture to be rearranged to support daily activities,” said Egan.
Construction on the inpatient unit was completed in November 2025. The general contractor on the project was St. Louis-based Alberici Constructors, Inc.