The new $84.3 million multi-storey mental health unit will provide a better environment to help the recovery of mental health patients.

As part of the Rural and Regional Infrastructure Package, the Queensland Government committed to co-locate inpatient and community mental health services at Cairns Hospital and construct a new mental health precinct. The project utilises the final developable portion of the Cairns Hospital campus through the demolition of the existing mental health unit.

The design represents contemporary clinical design to support the care model of the facility. It achieves this whilst creating positive connections to place, developed in collaboration with the local indigenous community. Named by the Gimuy Walubara Yidinji people, Jugarrbaajing (Unsettled Mind) acknowledges the vulnerability and challenges individuals face when seeking mental health support, it is seen as a place for individuals experiencing unsettled thoughts and it was thought to be beneficial to have a direct connect between traditional language name of the building and the service. By openly addressing an ‘unsettled mind’, the name helps destigmatise mental health issues, encouraging individuals to seek assistance without judgement.

The solution maximises the use of the wedge-shaped site available, taking advantage of the outlook toward the mountains to the west, and the esplanade and the ocean to the east, establishing positive urban activation while maintaining privacy for the patients. The architectural expression of the building is deliberately non-institutional. The cladding and articulation of the façade portray an image to the community that is welcoming and more evocative of a contemporary multi-residential development than an acute hospital building.