Respite Pavilion, Irvine, UK
Access and experience of outdoor environments and the encouragement of an active lifestyle, plays an important role in relation to mental illness and well-being.
Commissioned as part of the Arts Strategy for the new Acute Mental Health and North Ayrshire Community Hospital campus, our Respite Pavilion provides an important place of outdoor relaxation; encouraging patients, staff and relatives to escape the wards and waiting rooms of the hospital for the open landscape of the wider campus.
Three rectangular planes, each with a circular aperture, intersect to form a pavilion arranged around a stand of birch trees. The pavilion frames views and creates a more hospitable outdoor micro-climate. Seating is loosely dispersed, happily accommodating occupation by groups and individuals.
