By building the $60 million, 150,000-square-foot center in a central location and using a light-filled atrium and interior transparency designed to feel welcoming to the community, the university said it hopes to revitalize the outdated image of obscure and secluded psychiatric institutions.
“We wanted to design a building that defied outdated psychiatric institutional models that separated mental from physical health and perpetuated a culture of shame,” Matthew State, PhD, UC San Francisco professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, told KRON 4.
The center’s services include psychiatry, psychology, neurology, neurosurgery, radiology, pediatrics, anesthesiology and OB-GYN that use an all-encompassing treatment strategy blending physical and mental health.