Project Data:

Completion Date:     2/1/2022

Square Footage:      26230

Building Use:           Juvenile Hall Multi-Purpose Rehabilitation Center

Project Description:

Juvenile Facilities, in general, are an overlooked and misunderstood building type that are critically important to a community. Although juvenile population nationwide has decreased, the characteristics of current populations have shifted. Now there is a greater concentration of serious, high-risk youth with a commensurate increase in the complexity and gravity of their needs. Juveniles often arrive with deficiencies in social skills, mental health issues, dysfunctional homes, lack of familial support, and educational failure. There is a system-wide need for specialized education, treatment and rehabilitation plans so this high-risk population can return to the community as productive members of society.

Orange County is addressing this need with a new facility – the Multipurpose Rehabilitation Center (MRC). Orange County’s vision is a state-of-the-art juvenile facility designed to provide a non-institutional, welcoming, rehabilitative environment for the youth in their care. The Multipurpose Rehabilitation Center (MRC) is the County’s first step in redevelopment of the Juvenile Hall Campus into a progressive, modern juvenile detention facility that will serve as a model for how things should be done to the rest of the country. With this facility, Orange County intends to enhance the rehabilitation of youthful offenders by increasing family involvement, expanding the capacity and effectiveness of rehabilitation programs, improving the continuity and effectiveness of services, and increasing opportunities for youth to participate in various activities at the facility.

This project replaced the existing Orange County Juvenile Hall Visiting Center which was housed in a temporary mobile trailer that was in poor condition and past its useful life. MRC will primarily operate as a visitation facility, but also includes flexible secure and non-secure program space, staff training and conference space, vocational classrooms, and a gymnasium for in-custody youth. The facility was designed to provide opportunities for youth to participate in recreational, vocational, education, dining, and social activities. In addition, the new center will also be available to youth and families who are receiving probation supervision and services while living at home in their community.

Creating a welcoming and normative environment was key to not only supporting the model of rehabilitation envisioned by the County, but also because the MRC addition became the public-facing entry for the Juvenile Hall campus. Visitors are greeted with inspirational wording on concrete slabs at the entrance of the facility, such as “faith, hope, confidence, courage, friendship, honor, support, gratitude”. These slabs are meant to inspire positive thoughts going into the facility, with families hoping for the best for their loved ones’ futures.

Framework for Design Excellence

Design for Integration
The Multi-Purpose Rehabilitation Center (MRC) replaced the Juvenile Hall Visiting Center with a new and welcoming facility that is the first step in a reimagined campus for Juvenile Hall. The kick-off meeting included all project stakeholders – OC Probation, OC Public Works, Program Providers, Operations Staff, and the A/E Team. Each stakeholder shared three things that would constitute a successful project in their view and these ideas were aggregated into project Critical Success Factors (CSFs) that served as primary guidelines for design and decision making throughout the life of the project.

Project CSFs became the framework for the project and included items such as: design excellence, teamwork, beneficial to kids and families, sustainable design, quality materials, and efficient and functional space. This shared direction developed with input from all stakeholders guided the entire project.

Design for Equitable Communities
Orange County will use the MRC to provide parenting classes and programs for low-income families. The county is aware that strengthening the community starts with opportunities, and access to equitable care, which is why the MRC offers these programs. There is a children’s room that connects to an outdoor play area adjacent to the community conference rooms and visitation areas. This offers parents of youth the ability to attend classes and visit without needing to pay for childcare for younger siblings which will help foster healthy family relationships and keep the youth in frequent contact with their support system.

Parking at the previous visitation building required parents to pay a public parking fee which was burden on already financially strained families. The MRC project includes a designated parking area so families can park free of charge when visiting and attending parent programs on-site. The County anticipates the new parking arrangement and visitation center will lead to a considerable increase (target 20%) in the volume and frequency of family visitation as well as a significant improvement in the quality of family engagement throughout the juvenile justice process, from the moment of youth confinement to community re-entry.

Design for Ecosystems
The MRC promotes a new palette and aesthetic for architecture and landscaping on the Orange County Juvenile Hall campus. The building and landscape design uses strategies that respond to local climate, strengthen campus wayfinding, promote natural light and provide access to nature. The MRC is designed with indoor space that supports the juvenile program curriculum and priorities while also providing opportunities to move indoor activities from visitation and program space to adjacent outdoor areas.

The landscape is designed to promote safe resident, visitor, and staff interactions and encourage pedestrian circulation by creating comfortable microclimates. The landscape design and plant palette surrounding the MRC are designed to be the baseline for future redevelopment on the Juvenile Hall campus to unify overall campus design, promote pedestrian circulation, and provide opportunities for youth to interact with nature. The new building was sited to protect and preserve existing mature trees to improve both indoor and outdoor environmental quality, support habitat, clean the air, and promote healthy soils.

Design for Water
One key feature of the landscape design is to promote the State of California, MWELO (Measured water efficient landscape ordinance). This builds on the premise that landscape design, installation, and maintenance will be water efficient. Irrigation zoning and plant selection are coordinated to group plants based on water needs (hydrozones), with consideration of climate, geographical, and topographical conditions. High efficiency irrigation systems are used with a landscape palette of native or locally adapted, drought-tolerant plant species.

Design for Economy
As with any building for a public agency, project budget and economy are key factors affecting the design and selection of materials. The MRC needed to be a 50-60 year building with durable materials that were long-lasting and easy to maintain but Probation also strived for a building that looked non-institutional. Materials were chosen to meet the safety and security requirements inherent in a justice facility, but carefully selected using colors and finishes so the building feels more welcoming and uplifting.

To make the most efficient use of space and project budget, rooms are designed to serve more than one purpose. The gymnasium is designed primarily for recreational activity and is sized for multiple indoor sport activity – basketball, volleyball, indoor soccer. The room includes a fold-down stage and retractable bleachers so it can also be used for movie nights, career fairs, graduation programs and large family and community events. Classrooms are designed to allow for a variety of educational and vocational programs. Training rooms function as conference and training areas for staff and are located near the main entrance so they can also be used for parenting classes and other community-based programs that support the facility.

Design for Energy
The building is designed with the future in mind to comply with CalGreen. The infrastructure is in place to accommodate solar panels and Orange County is currently working with CalEdison for a future installation of that system.

Ample natural light and windows are provided throughout the facility and the transom windows in the gymnasium provide enough natural daylight that light fixtures are not needed for indoor activities during the day leading to a decrease in overall energy consumption.

Design for Wellbeing
As opposed to barbed-wire fencing and closed-off appearance that many rehabilitation and juvenile detention facilities possess, the Orange County MRC aims to provide a more welcoming appearance. Visitors are greeted with inspirational wording on concrete slabs at the entrance of the facility, such as “faith, hope, confidence, courage, friendship, honor, support, gratitude”. These slabs are meant to inspire positive thoughts going into the facility, with families hoping for the best for their children’s futures.

Youth and employees at the facility now have access to a gymnasium and a staff workout space, which helps to improve their physical and mental wellbeing. Additionally, the open recreation area has a high-volume ceiling with a basketball court, an equipment room, and a dedicated program area. This facility addresses the need for an exercise space in all-weather conditions, with programs aimed at reducing recidivism and building new skills.

Design for Discovery
Recreational facilities are a fundamental component of any youth’s life and many life lessons, both good and bad, are best learned along with peers who are enduring similar life struggles and peer pressures. The recreational and social activities that take place in the MRC mirror life in the community and foster pro-social interaction between youthful offenders. The gymnasium also offers the California Department of Education the ability to provide physical education classes indoors. This facility provides a safe, positive, and supportive place where authentic social interaction can occur, and where youthful offenders can learn lessons of responsibility, discipline and social etiquette amongst their peers and advisers as they would in a normal community environment.

Youth in the facility have access to several new Career Technical Education (CTE) programs, including a full automotive shop, an electronics training facility, and flexible classrooms which allow for a wide variety of programs. The MRC implements structured cognitive behavioral and social learning programs, focused on promoting physical health, development, and functioning while providing a new level of re-entry to society, based on current research and best practices.

Firm Name:              Lionakis

Completion Date:     2/1/2022

Square Footage:      26230

Building Use:           Juvenile Hall Multi-Purpose Rehabilitation Center

Location:                 Orange, CA

Design Architect:

Associate Architect or Firm:

Landscape Architect:
Landscape Architect – NUVIS

Owner / Developer:
Orange County

Engineer:
Structural Engineer – Lionakis
Civil Engineer – Kimley-Horn
Mechanical & Plumbing Engineer – Capital Engineering Consultants
Electrical Engineer – tk1sc

General Contractor:
P.H. Hagopian Contractor, Inc.

Consultant:
Interior Designer – Lionakis
Audio/Visual & Telecom – tk1sc
Security – AVS Engineers
Food Service – AMD Food Service Design

Photographer:
Tim Maloney, Technical Imagery Studios