Country’s first Green House home for veterans completed

The Chicago office of Perkins Eastman joins the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs (VA) in announcing the country’s first Community Living Center (CLC) to utilize the Green House Prototype Design Package at the VA Illiana Health Care System campus in Danville, Ill.

The CLC at Danville consists of two 7,500 sf buildings—named Freedom House and Liberty House—containing ten private bedrooms with direct views to common areas, communal living areas and kitchens, and ample outdoor space, all with an aim to restore maximum function and independence while providing veteran-centered care.

The VA Illiana Health Care System CLC is the first of several VA communities either planned or under construction that utilizes the Green House Prototype Design Package, a new approach for seniors needing skilled nursing care that emphasizes de-institutionalization. The prototype was designed in 2011 by Perkins Eastman in concert with the Green House Project and NCB Capital Impact to provide a turnkey design for senior living communities at a reduced schedule and with reduced costs. The overall goal of design is to empower more providers across the country to create communities where seniors can experience quality care in a de-institutionalized environment.

A transformation in the way veteran care is delivered, Freedom House and Liberty House address the spectrum of health—physical, emotional, psychological—in their design. In adopting this community-based model of care, Freedom House and Liberty House at VA Illiana provide greater assurances of privacy and personalized environments for veterans in ways more traditional models cannot.

Perkins Eastman also designed six CLC buildings at the Captain James A. Lovell Federal Health Center in North Chicago, Ill., the first phase of which consists of two Green House Prototype buildings currently under construction to complete this summer. The second phase consists of four CLC buildings currently in design. BD+C

Two of Perkins Eastman’s firm leaders—Mary-Jean Eastman, FAIA, Vice Chair and Managing Principal of its New York City studio, and Barbara Mullenex, AIA, Managing Principal of the Washington, D.C., studio—will share anecdotes about their personal journeys to the top of a global architecture, design, and planning firm, at Building Design+Construction's fourth annual Women in Design+Construction Conference. The event will take place November 11-13, 2019, at the Fairmont Scottsdale Princess resort in Scottsdale, Ariz.

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