California Veteran Home, Skilled Nursing Facility and Memory Care project set for Yountville, Calif.

A new 240-bed addition will rise on the oldest and largest veterans’ home in the country in Yountville, Calif.

The California Veteran Home, Skilled Nursing Facility and Memory Care project will provide long-term care for senior and disabled veterans, including those with dementia, Alzheimer’s, and traumatic brain injuries.

Yountville courtyard

The project’s design was inspired by the veterans, the program, and the place. The entire facility is modeled around home environments with personal bedrooms designed for care and efficiency. Common areas provide a living room feel with natural lighting and views while multiple outdoor terraces are accessible throughout. A straightforward path to “neighborhoods” helps members find their way to their rooms easily and a centralized elevator bank and circulation path simplifies navigation.

Yountville dining room

The project will include features such as enhanced HVAC systems, radiant floor heating, displacement air cooling, circadian lighting, touches plumbing fixtures, outdoor terraces, an outdoor physical therapy area, and COVID-19 prevention strategies. Sustainable features will also be included such as mass timber, advanced daylighting strategies, and a high-performance mechanical system and energy envelope.

Rudolph and Sletten is leading the design-build effort as the general contractor and CannonDesign is the architect and interior design firm for the project.

Yountville promenade

Yountville Veterans home exterior

Yountville veterans home upper terrace

For most of human history, design has mostly considered “typical users” who are fully able-bodied without clinical or emotional disabilities. The problem with this approach is that it offers a limited perspective on how space can positively or negatively influence someone based on their physical, mental, and sensory abilities.

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