Sep 26, 2025 _ news

Cover Story: Cincinnati Children’s William K. Schubert, MD Mental Health Center in Healthcare Design

GBBN’s design for Cincinnati Children’s new mental health building in Cincinnati, Ohio was recently featured in Healthcare Design magazine. The article highlights how this new 160,000 sf facility reimagines the experience of pediatric behavioral healthcare—offering a safe, therapeutic, and hopeful environment for patients, families, and staff.

The new building replaces an existing facility that was hindering the way Cincinnati Children’s wanted to deliver care. Together, we used the opportunity to reimagine how spaces could better support Cincinnati Children’s new care model—which groups patients into smaller, unit-independent treatment cohorts, allowing caregivers to better tailor treatment to specific needs. One aspect of this was re-thinking the collection of therapeutic settings known as milieu, where patients spend most of their free time participating in group therapy or guided activities.

The project sets the tone for its new care experience from the moment patients arrive on campus. As GBBN’s Erin Schmidt, the lead interior designer on the project tells Healthcare Design, the design concept used the metaphor of a cozy blanket. Architecturally, this is expressed through curvilinear forms, transparency, rounded corridors and sheltered seating nooks built into the walls, which, says Erin, communicates the idea that “this is a place to come where you’re cared for, where you’re protected.”

Read the full article in Healthcare Design magazine here.

Read our project case study here.

Read about more of our work with Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center here.