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This presentation shares two architectural case studies in Berlin and London designed to actively support the delivery of mental healthcare. It introduces interdisciplinary working methods developed by the allied studios baukind and thinkbuild and directly complements the workshop “Re-invigorating Spaces of Healing,” already accepted to the Congress. Together, the lecture and workshop advocate a more deliberate recognition of environmental factors as an active component of care.

Creating environments that genuinely support healing requires close interdisciplinary collaboration. Yet many healthcare settings still reflect institutional and technical priorities rather than the emotional, perceptual, and everyday needs of patients, families, and staff. In response, the lecture explores how evidence-based environmental design can contribute to more supportive and effective care settings.

The presentation focuses on two adaptive reuse projects that can be understood as best-practice examples: the new Academic Ambulatory Clinic at Humboldt University in Berlin and the newly opened Treiste Model / Barnsley Street Neighborhood Mental Health Clinic in London. Both projects apply spatial-perceptual and milieu-therapeutic principles to promote calm, orientation, dignity, and everyday functionality within real-world constraints of time, budget, and existing building fabric.

By examining these projects, the lecture asks how existing healthcare environments can be strategically upgraded to better support care, interaction, and recovery. It also highlights practical design tools—including colour, lighting, materiality, and spatial orientation—that can improve institutional settings. The aim is to give listeners a stronger understanding of how design affects patients, staff, and carers, alongside concrete, transferable ideas for positive change in their own contexts.