The Twin Cities’ LGBTQ health clinic moves into a new and improved facility

For more than 50 years, Family Tree Clinic has provided reproductive and sexual health services to underserved populations—from part of an old schoolhouse, until recently. Designed by Perkins&Will, the new Family Tree Clinic, which serves the LGBTQ community in the Minneapolis and St. Paul area, now can serve an additional 10,000 patients a year.

In addition to providing reproductive and sexual health services to the uninsured and under-insured, Family Tree Clinic offers comprehensive outreach education services statewide, focusing on health and sex education in schools, community settings, colleges, and correctional facilities. The organization also offers health education for the deaf, deaf-blind, and hard of hearing.

Of the clinic’s clients, 55 percent are BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color), 60 percent are LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or queer/questioning), and 70 percent live below the poverty line. These individuals had faced long waiting lists and barriers to medical care.

In 2017, Family Tree launched a plan for a new and improved facility. The building serves two main purposes: a welcoming oasis for patients, staff, and community members, and a safe, private, trauma-informed place of respite. On the first floor, the community and staff spaces are surrounded by glass, welcoming visitors inside. A protected courtyard provides outdoor respite for staff and community as well as daylight for the interior public spaces. Meanwhile, the clinic is located on the second floor toward the back of the building, ensuring privacy.

The structure’s simple brick volume matches the neighborhood’s scale and material pattern. The design team carefully chose materials that indicated permanence in the community. BIPOC and LGBTQ+ artists from the community covered the building with murals that express the power of healing.

On the Building Team:
Owner: Family Tree Clinic
Owner’s representative: Grand Real Estate Advisors
Design architect: Perkins&Will
Architect of record: Perkins&Will
MEP engineer: Victus Engineering
Structural engineer: BKBM Engineers
General contractor/construction manager: Greiner Construction

Family Tree Clinic ext 2 — Courtesy Perkins&Will.

Family Tree int — Courtesy Perkins&Will.

Family Tree int 2 — Courtesy Perkins&Will.

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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