Ankrom Moisan partnered with Compass Health to master plan and entitled both Phase 2, the Marc Healing Center, and Phase 3 of the Broadway Redevelopment, creating a cohesive vision for the future of behavioral health services. This planning effort carefully ties the new phases into the existing Phase 1 facility, ensuring seamless campus-wide integration, coordinated parking, patient and staff accessibility, while enhancing connectivity and operational flow across the site.

The Marc Healing Center introduces a state-of-the-art behavioral health facility designed around trauma-informed principles and a holistic care model that serves people in every stage of their mental health and crisis recovery journeys. It includes an evaluation and treatment unit, a crisis stabilization unit, and office space for crisis prevention, outreach, and engagement teams. Tailored to provide familiarity and comfort with inpatient and outpatient care for both voluntary and committed patients, the center removes barriers to seeking help and reduces the stigma often associated with behavioral health care.

As a regional hub of behavioral health, primary care, and supportive services, the largest consideration for the project was ensuring that the interior spaces feel warm and comfortable, rather than clinical. To achieve this, natural materials, including extensive wood finishes, were used to bring a sense of calm throughout patient and staff areas. A central nurse’s station is canted to increase sightlines, allowing staff to monitor patients while maintaining a sense of openness rather than surveillance.

From a design perspective, the building embraces materials, massing, and connections to nature that make the recovery process something to celebrate. Its “H” shaped plan divides the form into two smaller structures, softening its scale and creating two upper-level courtyards filled with greenery and natural light. The architectural form of the building also allows for deep-cut planters, bringing biophilic elements into the structure for the benefit of all its users. These outdoor spaces, combined with abundant windows framing views of the surrounding landscape, reinforce the idea that patients are part of something more than just a clinical care space.

Responding to the hillside site, the facility features two warm, inviting entrances at different levels, with the Broadway-facing entry marked by a dramatic cantilever that makes the arrival point beautiful, obvious, and approachable. Adobe-toned cladding and a glass promenade along the street frontage further break down institutional barriers, creating a sense of comfort and transparency.

Because the campus operates 24/7, the plan also prioritizes emergency vehicle access to ensure first responders can navigate the site efficiently, supporting Compass Health’s ability to provide uninterrupted, high-quality care.

Phase 3, currently approved with entitlements and progressing towards building permit submission, represents the next step in Compass Health’s campus vision. While construction remains in the future, this phase has been strategically planned to build upon the foundation established with the Marc Healing Center. The organization aims to expand its integrated behavioral health resources, with the potential for a primary healthcare clinic, administrative offices, outpatient services, and multiple levels of supportive housing under consideration.

Marc Healing Center is on track for LEED Silver certification, showing that it’s not just access to views of nature that links the project to biophilia and sustainability, but also how the building functions and all the design elements within it.

Design: Ankrom Moisan
Photography: Shelsi Lindquist