A Place for Healing
Today we celebrate the reopening of human services provider SCO Family of Service’s Genovese Family Life Center. The 30,000-square-foot Center is the hub of SCO’s programming in Queens where families in foster care, at-risk youth, and New Yorkers of all ages go for services including counseling, family visits, home placement, and training. With a mixed staff of administrators, caseworkers, legal advisors, educators, and medical and mental health professionals, SCO works to keep the families and social fabric of New York strong. The new Center is a place for learning, healing, and reunification – designed using the principles of trauma-informed design and environmental psychology.
CONNECTING & HEALING
The Center improves SCO’s ability to connect with and care for clients with areas dedicated to the following:
Medical and mental health
Foster care and family visits
Training for professional development and community outreach
Workplaces, meeting rooms, and break areas for staff
Medical clinic with private waiting area and changing room.
Biophilic wallpaper acts as a positive distraction during medical exams.
An underutilised basement space converted into flexible training rooms.
Training rooms provide AV equipment, tack-able/ writable surfaces, and modular furniture.
Located in a sunny corner of the building, a staff café functions as a place of respite.
The layout, use of curves, lighting, acoustic design, materials, and color choices are the antithesis of a stark institutional environment. They work together to create a space that is welcoming and safe – where clients feel taken care of and staff feels supported.
TRAUMA-INFORMED DESIGN INTERVENTIONS
Adverse childhood experiences, such as time in foster care, carry an elevated risk of toxic stress physiology, which leads to chronic illness, depression, and other life-threatening circumstances. With a clear spatial layout, thoughtful furniture choices, visual interest, light and color, and biophilic design, the trauma-informed environment at Genovese promotes a sense of calm, safety, and well-being. Below are just a handful of examples of the practical application of these principles.
Reception: Rows of plastic chairs (which give off an institutional air) are replaced with welcoming, upholstered, high-back furnishings (with a living room feel) offering a sense of privacy and protection, putting the nervous system at ease.
The foster family visiting room: A large, open space with minimal privacy and heavy, bolted-down plastic furnishings (seen in confinement settings) is reimaged as a bright, visually appealing place where families have control over their surroundings – the ability to adjust light levels and choose the size, color, and location of a huddle room – increasing personal agency. There are also comfortable areas for SCO team members supervising visits to plug in and work on laptops.
Biophilia: All spaces are designed to support prospect and refuge, an essential element of biophilic design.
The deliberate layout places routinely occupied spaces closer to windows for daylight in and views out, improving moods and productivity while reducing energy use.
Material connection with nature is achieved by using wood and stone textures, and wallpaper with flora imagery.
The pastel hues in the family visiting rooms have a calming effect.
The reception and other work areas have bright saturated colors to energize and uplift.
The architectural finishes, paints, adhesives, and furnishings contribute to air quality and the health of the fence line communities where they are made. Our team took great care to screen out chemicals of concern and suspected carcinogens by utilizing readily available databases, such as Mindful Materials, and Level® certified furnishings.
The Center is a sanctuary, a place for healing, as opposed to a place that triggers traumatic responses and stress. It was an honor to contribute to SCO’s mission and we are excited to continue our relationship with them as we provide additional design solutions to other locations that support their important work.
PRINCIPAL
Ámbar Margarida
CID, IIDA, LEED® Green Associate, WELL AP
Ámbar is an accredited green building professional, and an expert in designing healthy spaces. These are spaces that contribute to employee wellbeing and satisfaction and have healthy indoor air quality, access to quality views and daylight, plantings and proper ergonomics. Read More >