architecture+ has been providing planning and design services to healthcare clients since our founding in 1984. With over twenty-five years of experience, architecture+ has worked on a broader range of behavioral healthcare projects than any other firm in North America. Our founding partner and president, Francis (Frank) Murdock Pitts, FAIA, FACHA, has earned a national reputation for his work in the planning and design of behavioral healthcare facilities for special populations, long-term care, and secure institutions.
Frank’s expertise is regularly solicited by colleagues and providers throughout the United States and Canada. He has been an instrumental member of the healthcare design community, serving as a leader of the AIA Academy of Architecture for Health and the American College of Healthcare Architects. A founding member and Fellow of the American College of Healthcare Architects, he helped to establish national certification credentials for healthcare architects and led the effort to extend the availability of the specialty certification credential to other parts of North America. His leadership of the AIA’s Academy of Architecture for Health (President 2001) resulted in a reinvigorated relationship between the Academy and the profession. He has also shaped the regulatory environment, serving 2007–2014 on the committee that writes the FGI/AIA Guidelines for Design and Construction of Hospital and Health Care Facilities, the national standard for design and construction of healthcare facilities. He authored a majority of the recent revisions and additions to the Guidelines standards for psychiatric hospitals. Frank has been a leader in the AIA at the local, state, and national level. He served as president of AIA Eastern New York (2007) and AIA New York State (2010), and is member of the AIA National Board (2011–2013). His involvement has resulted in enhanced educational opportunities and improved membership benefits at the state, national, and local level.
Our work with special populations is innovative and in touch with anticipated trends in treatment modalities. We have received awards from the American Institute of Architects, Eastern New York Chapter, for West 5th Street Campus in Hamilton, Ontario, Worcester Recovery Center and Hospital, and Sunmount Center for Intensive Treatment in Tupper Lake, New York.