November is finally upon us signifying the month when we take time to celebrate Veterans Day and honor those who’ve given so much.

As the Architect of Record for both The Ben Atchley State Veterans Home as well as the currently under construction Cleveland Bradley County State Veterans Home, we at Lewis Group Architects think on the service and sacrifice of our country’s service members each and every day. We are honored to serve as designers of these spaces which provide comfort and rest to veterans across the State of Tennessee.

In 2007 the demand for a new nursing home for East Tennessee veterans was met by The Ben Atchley State Veterans’ Home, an 89,000 sq. ft., state-of-the-art facility in a quiet, rural setting in West Knox County. The carefully integrated site and building design provides 140 beds in an accessible, warm, and peaceful environment for its residents.

The one level structure is made up of several resident wings and public spaces surrounding courtyards. Every design element, including architectural elements, landscaping, furniture, and interior design, was carefully configured or selected to create a home-like environment for the residents instead of the traditional institutional environment. The project was $2,000,000 under budget and recently received a Five-Star rating from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).

The Tennessee State Veterans’ Home (TSVH) in Bradley County provides resident-centered homes and individualized care for the area’s veterans that reflect a significant cultural transformation in the approach to the environment of care in Community Living Centers where the focus is on the individual as a resident, rather than as a patient, and the home is a place for meaningful living in addition to a place to receive nursing care.

The project includes a single story, 114,000 sq. ft., 108-bed, intermediate and skilled care nursing facility and related site improvements for qualified veterans of the State of Tennessee. The facility will consist of a neighborhood of nine (9) 12-bedroom Residential Houses co-located with living, dining, and kitchen areas and interconnected by interior shared spaces, common areas, and support spaces.

The 9 houses will share Community Center spaces, Therapeutic spaces, other Resident Support spaces, and access to a series of planned outdoor garden and courtyard spaces.

Founded in 1982 by Jerry W. Lewis, AIA on the principles of honesty, integrity, and exemplary service for our clients, LGA is a professional corporation that has become the Firm of Choice – the firm that clients have chosen again and again for comprehensive and distinctive design, rendering, assessment, and masterplanning services.

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