By Brian Johnson
91��Ƶ Newswires

A new survey offers more proof that mental health should be a strong consideration in the design of community buildings such as schools, libraries and government facilities.

The “State of Community Facility Design,” commissioned by St. Paul-based Wold Architects and Engineers, asked Americans 18 and older how they feel about design as it relates to mental health and a “sense of safety and connection.” Roughly 1,000 people — representing multiple generations — responded to the national survey, which was released earlier this month.

Wakefield Research conducted the survey on behalf of Wold. The survey period spanned from Oct. 23 to Nov. 2. In general, respondents agreed that mental health and well-being should be “central to the design” of community buildings, and that wellness and functionality should go “hand-in-hand.”

Amenities such as cafés, green spaces, public gathering areas, designated play areas, meditation spaces, and “sensory respite” areas lend themselves to well-being, according to the survey. Other mental-health-friendly design considerations, the survey said, include daylighting, soft colors, water features, and quiet areas.

As communities “increasingly prioritize spaces that support mental and emotional needs,” the survey notes, “the demand for thoughtful, wellness-focused design will continue to grow.”

Vaughn Dierks, CEO of Wold Architects and Engineers, said there’s a tendency to believe that functionality is the only thing that matters for “service provider buildings,” such license bureaus.

“We used to hear the argument quite a bit over, ‘Why does that have to look so nice? If all I’m only going there to get this type of service, why does it matter what it looks like?’” Dierks said.

It matters, in part, because wellness-oriented designs influence the way people experience services and their willingness to come back, he said. While functionality “certainly is a key driver in a lot of these types of facilities, the other aspects are very important — and especially important as we look at future generations and the types of people who are accessing those services now.”

Among the survey’s key findings:

• 86 percent of respondents believe that mental health and wellness “should be prioritized” in the design of community buildings. Among Gen Z and millennials, the number rises to 91 percent.
• 84 percent of city residents say building design “plays a critical role in whether they would revisit a community space,” and 55 percent said they would be willing to extend their travel time by up to 20 minutes to visit a well-designed community space.
• Nine of 10 respondents said wellness should “be central to community building design, not an afterthought.”

Wellness is top of mind for Twin Cities-based St. David’s Center, a regional leader in child and family development. St. David’s, which has existing facilities in Minnetonka and at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Minneapolis, recently purchased the 124,000-square-foot former YWCA building at 1130 Nicollet Mall in Minneapolis and is working on a multiphase plan to remodel the building.

“We often think of our treatment spaces as being kind of a co-partner for us in treatment,” said Jane Perry, chief clinical officer at St. David’s, which is working with Pope Design Group on its YWCA project.

Light-filled spaces, colors based in nature, and rooms set up to have a limited number of choices for children receiving treatment are key design elements.

“We know kids get really over-stimulated by too many choices, and so do we as adults. So we’re really thinking about the layout of the room, the light, the color. I think that we, as humans, are so disconnected from nature, and I don’t think that’s how we were wired or born to be. So the more we’re thinking about that in terms of our working and treatment spaces, the better I think our treatment outcomes can be.”

But wellness-friendly design isn’t just for mental health treatment centers. Wold, for example, says it has worked with to bring “project designs to life in the government, education and health care sectors,” including the 28-bed Dakota County Jail Integrated Health Unit, a 911 communications center, and a law enforcement center.

“I think people thoroughly understand it with health care. You get it with senior living. And with schools, you can make that leap. But it’s not always obvious with government,” Dierks said.

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A man suffering a mental health crisis climbed to the top of a construction crane in Southeast Portland and stayed there for more than five hours before climbing down and being taken into police custody Wednesday.

According to the Portland Police Bureau, the agency’s Special Emergency Reaction Team and Crisis Negotiation Team responded to the area of Southeast Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Ankeny Street just after 1 p.m. to assist Central Precinct officers with a “person in crisis who was in an elevated position on top of a crane.”

Police say the man climbed atop the 290-foot crane at the 5 MLK�����ܾ����徱�Բ��������ٱ� and that responding police followed him using harnesses and other climbing gear. Police said they were able to identify the man and talk with him as he paced back and forth along the crane’s catwalk looking at the job site below.

5 MLK is a 17-story building being constructed by general contractor Hoffman Construction.

“Right now we’re still investigating how the individual yesterday gained access to the crane,” Hoffman Vice President Dan Drinkward said. “We don’t want to go into detail on that, but what I can tell you is there are a number of strategies we employ to restrict access to the tower cranes.”

According to Sgt. Brad Yakots, a public information officer with the Portland Police Bureau, the subject was not believed to be a construction worker. The crane was locked down and the site evacuated shortly after 1 p.m. on Wednesday.

After crisis negotiators climbed the crane and talked with the man for over two hours, he finally made his way down the crane’s internal ladders just before 6:30 p.m. and was taken into custody by officers.

The man reportedly scaled a perimeter fence to access the job site before climbing the crane. The operator was able to shut down the crane and call authorities as the man made his way up.

“(The crane’s operator) is unharmed, and he did a very good job of shutting down the crane – shutting off its power so the crane won’t move,” Yakots said in a media briefing.

Around the world, a spate of so-called “rooftopping” adventurers have trespassed onto building sites to climb tower cranes, tall buildings and other structures and then document their activities. As a result, anti-climb devices have become commonplace at sites in Europe and beyond. These include shields around the cranes’ bases with solid walls up nearly 10 feet tall, locking hatches in cranes’ masts and many other precautions.

Drinkward said security around cranes typically starts with a perimeter fence and continues inward. At the base of the crane there is normally a locked structure and gate, often with solid walls; there are intermediate hatches in the crane mast with locks; no-climb netting outside the crane; locks on the hatches that go into the cab; and at the top, a switch to kill power.

Nevertheless, no set-up is perfect, Drinkward said.

“Each of these crane installations is a custom installation,” he said. “The way you configure the crane is different at each site, so the strategies you use vary from project to project and they change as the project gets built.”

Changes take place even as the building rises, he added.

“It’s a dynamic environment and you’re constantly balancing the security of the crane and the ability of the crane operator to safely move up and down to do his work,” he said.

Drinkward praised the actions of the crane operator, who is a Hoffman employee.

“We’re really grateful for the quick action of our employees to secure the cab of the crane and ensure the individual in crisis was not able to operate the crane,” he said.

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