healing : workplace : government/public : hospitality : mixed-use : living : inside : learning : justice : master planning

California Veterans Home

Residence for Veterans | Geriatric, Dementia & Memory Care | 239,000 SF | Design-Build | 2012

FRESNO, CALIFORNIA, USA  The KMD/Hensel Phelps team undertook an unprecedented challenge and opportunity to create a welcoming, stable and lasting community to help Veterans maintain individual identities and exercise personal preference, choice and independent initiatives. The new campus evokes the essence of individual homes clustered into neighborhoods and unified by a Central Services Building. The California Department of Veterans Affairs and the State of California defined the Critical Success Factors for the California Veterans Home-Fresno – they exhorted the design-build team to create an environment reflecting the comforts of home, providing the highest quality of life with dignity and positive self-image, and by the nature of its design, nurturing the human spirit of the members and staff.

Several neighborhoods are specifically designed for members with early stages of dementia as well as long term care for those with advanced Alzheimer’s Disease. Within the Central Services Building there is a Primary Care Clinic and a Rehabilitation Center consisting of a large Physical and Occupational Therapy Department. Specialists from the Fresno VA Hospital make scheduled visits, whereas patients requiring hospitalization are transferred to the hospital. The variety of interior and exterior spaces provides the opportunity for members to interact with other Members and visitors in a wide range of participatory and contemplative activities. In this way, the characteristic effects of aging are mitigated, independence is encouraged, and residents are creatively involved within their community while maintaining a strong sense of self.

LEED Gold Certified