The Early History of a Psychiatric Hospital for Children

When a new building is completed and occupants begin to move in, there occurs, in a very real sense, a test of the planning process. Yet in the excitement of the premiere, seldom do occupants or designers consider this rare moment, and when they do, they generally concentrate on mechanical or convenience problems-toilets that do not function properly, roofs that leak, difficulties in ventilating the building-all very important for the comfort of the consumer or client, but perhaps secondary to the larger questions of functional success both in terms of the designer’s conception of the way his building would be used and the occupants’ needs within the new structure. Our own work over the years, mainly in adult psychiatric hospitals ( Ittelson et al., 1970a), has pointed out how essential it is to look at details of what actually takes place within the built environment. Even more important is the task of