We are excited to share that Sunshine Mental Health & Wellbeing Centre has been shortlisted for the 2024 World Architecture Festival.

The World Architecture Festival (WAF) is an annual global festival and awards ceremony that celebrates the world’s most innovative projects.

This year, the awards will take place in November in Singapore. NH is honoured to be shortlisted and have our work with NTC Architects exhibited alongside other world-class projects.

The Sunshine Mental Health &Wellbeing Centre responds to recommendations from the Royal Commission into Victoria’s Mental Health System.

From the codesign process with people who have lived experience of mental illness to the architecture itself, this project transforms the traditional mental health care setting to create a more therapeutic environment. The Sunshine Mental Health & Wellbeing Centre integrates the principles of biophilic and salutogenic design, innovatively inverting the traditional floorplan to centre large internal courtyards.

It sets an important precedent for healthcare design, and hopefully marks the next step in deinstitutionalising mental healthcare settings.

Last month, NH Director Nick Bourns spoke alongside NH Architecture alongside AECOM’s Technical director and health sector lead Codey Lyon at the annual European Healthcare Design Conference about our mental health care design approach.

The World Architecture Festival is an exciting further acknowledgment of the significance of our innovative design thinking. You can see the full World Architecture Festival Shortlist for 2024 here.