A Sophisticated and Safe Space – St Mary's Health Services by Harrison Interiors

Instilled with warmth and a sense of the familiar, St Mary’s Health Services attends to a gap in the healthcare market, addressing the need for calm yet modern centres dedicated to teenagers with disabilities. Harrison Interiors works with neutral material and colour palettes to form a sophisticated and safe space tailored to the specific needs of its users.

The brief was informed by the need to create a space that was both calming and durable, minimising the risk of injuries and preventing over-stimulation. Once an industrial building, the structure was converted into a series of activity spaces suitable for respite care and after school and holiday programs alongside designated areas for teenagers to play, dance and socialise. “There was a gap in the market for settings where multi-disabled teenagers could enjoy age-appropriate activities,” explains Alisia Harrison of Harrison Interiors. “The interior needed to be mindful of this time, where the occupants are straddling both youth and adulthood.”

Instilled with warmth and a sense of the familiar, St Mary’s Health Services attends to a gap in the healthcare market, addressing the need for calm yet modern centres dedicated to teenagers with disabilities.

The centre melds residential and healthcare elements to create an approachable and familiar environment. The reception and lounge settings are imbued with an immediate sense of inclusion and belonging, while the central kitchen encourages shared dining that’s reminiscent of a family dining area. The interior also emboldens users and visitors to intuitively explore and move through the space. Circular, curved and arched themes are repeated throughout – from furniture to shelving to glass façades – gently connecting the interior scheme and providing engagement. The interior structure is also softened by curved walls and pod-like zones that help to shift the industrialised scale within. A sweeping wall separates amenities and therapy zones from activity spaces, and curved walls temper the profiles of both the reception and office areas.

“In the initial research stage for St Mary’s Health Services, we absolutely needed to understand the needs of the occupants,” Alisia says. “Sensory input and overload were considered with the highest order[and] understanding triggers and designing the spaces to help alleviate sensory overload was key to the design phase.” Large pendant lights offer ambient lighting and provide balance to the scale of the building. Gentle and indirect lighting is then used throughout to assist in creating the centre’s calming ambience.

Harrison Interiors works with neutral material and colour palettes to forma sophisticated and safe space tailored to the specific needs of its users.

To mitigate unnecessary demolition and waste, the building’s existing window suites were preserved and customised, and the existing mezzanine repurposed to create a new stair and library below. In the larger ‘Day Play’ area, Harrison Interiors incorporated beams to fit out sensory equipment such as hanging pods. The interior also adheres to strict health and safety regulations, including utilising built-in and fixed modular furniture as well as reducing exposure to harmful bacteria through the use of materials such as vinyl, laminate and engineered stone. Occupational therapy and audio-visual equipment were also seamlessly integrated throughout without compromising the visual design aesthetic.

The interior draws upon a muted, calm palette in both materials and tonality. “We didn’t want the interior to be bright and childlike, nor should it be too grown up,” says Alisia. Instead, St Mary’s Health Services maintains a distinct and soothing warmth with off-whites, greiges and sage green as well as light timbers throughout. Grey speckled vinyl flooring is featured within the space, clearly connecting zones, while perforated corrugated ceiling panels provide a modern, textured element.

The interior draws upon a muted, calm palette in both materials and tonality.

“When you enter the space, a feeling of calm descends, and I think that is really what I set out to achieve,” explains Alisia. “We wanted to provide a unique environment, a place where these young adults could thrive, be comfortable and feel safe.”