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Marin County Health and Wellness Campus
Like a heart brimming with life, sculptor Charles Swanson's calmly overflowing Solas fountain, inscribed with words of wisdom, sets the tone for the Marin County Health and Wellness Campus. The San Rafael, California, campus, with courtyard designed by the landscape architecture firm of Royston Hanamoto Alley & Abey, provides a single location for a variety of services including health care, mental health care, HIV/AIDS care, and social services for patients from all walks of life.
The majority of funding for this dream-project came from a tobacco settlement awarded to the county of Marin, and the campus serves as a symbol of recovery rising out of the ashes of a cigarette butt. Designed, built, and located for sustaining efficiency, the campus has been awarded a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Gold Certification, which is given to sites that adhere to green building design and development standards ordained by the U.S. Green Building Council. Some design and construction techniques which led to this prestigious honor include: the use of solar energy; passive light; the reuse of preexisting buildings; recycling building supplies; simple access by environmentally friendly modes of transportation such as walking, biking, and mass transit; on-site recycling program; native low-water landscaping; drip irrigation; and efficient heating, cooling, and ventilation systems.
The campus consists of five adjacent buildings, (previously used as George Lucas' headquarters for Industrial Light and Magic) and is perfectly located within 2 miles of 50% of the expected patients. Needless to say, a lot of foot traffic was expected, and in response, a welcoming courtyard, designed by the Royston Hanamoto Alley & Abey landscape architect firm, was constructed to create a pedestrian friendly environment pulling the separate buildings into one cohesive campus.
Swanson's 96-inch diameter Solas fountain rests quietly in the heart of the campus, overflowing onto an offset circle of permeable paving, welcoming patients and faculty. The fountain sets a tone of recovery for both body and soul with three inclusive quotes advocating wellness and cultural acceptance engraved on it's sloping, asymmetrical interior:
Whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly.
– Martin Luther King
Our ambitions must be broad enough to include the needs and aspirations of others, for their sakes and for our own.
– Cesar Chavez
Do you see the link between you and me? You are not there. I am not here.
–Thich Nhat Hanh
The cast-stone Solas fountain is part of a series of sculptural landscape pieces designed by Charles Swanson and specifically scaled for this expansive installation. Elements of the basin are reflected in the landscape design, such as its clean circular shape, varying depths, recycling water, and offset center. It is a calming symbol of the different circles and depths of being encompassed in the wisdom of acceptance. The soothing babble of the ever-welling water embodies the continuation of life.
Rounded shapes are evident throughout the courtyard, in the forms of gray permeable pavement patches for drainage, oval gardens with curved pathways, colorful amoeboid-shaped arbors and jellybean-like concrete play shapes for children to climb on. Landscape Architect and Associate on the project Lisa Orr explains that curves are "soft welcoming forms that directly contrast with the precise angles of the buildings, they are whimsical, and add a family friendly tone to the place."
A user group, consisting of the local public and lead by Jeanne Miche of Public Works for Marin County, met on several occasions to discuss the public needs of the facilities and to give input on how the campus should look and feel. Through these meetings, a diverse and vibrant plan was created to unify the campus.
The courtyard is themed to capture the meaning behind the name "health and wellness" and to set a welcoming, friendly atmosphere for healing patients of all ages and backgrounds. It functions as many individual spaces and gardens with various nooks and crannies for small group interaction—all while keeping an open flow from building to building.
 Having individual spaces for small group interaction within the courtyard was a decision of the user group. Deducing that the courtyard could serve as more than just a passage from building to building, the user group opted to include designated areas for patrons of differing needs. There is a healing garden full of medicinal plants such as Lavender, Aloe, and Echinacea for patients to relax in. There is a children's garden of playful shapes to climb on with bright, fragrant, and fun textured plants. Low water California native plants including Salvias, Coffeeberry, Wild Lilac, and Penstemon reinforce the idea of conservation, while colorful flowering plants like Kangaroo Paws, Roses, Fortnight Lilies and Star Magnolias bring beauty to the scene. All around are sturdy yet elegant benches made of ipê wood, along with trellises and arbors for restful spots of shade. Signs are present to give directions and signify separate areas, and two artful rollaway gates secure the area at night.
The Marin County Health and Wellness Campus sets the standard of healthcare beyond survival; it extends it to life.
Photos courtesy of Royston Hanamoto Alley & Abey and Bernard Andre Photography
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