Helix Architecture + Design Transforms Former Wichita Car Dealership for COMCARE
The COMCARE Community Crisis Center, designed by Helix Architecture + Design, recently broke ground in Wichita, KS. Ryan Baty, Sedgwick County Board of Commissioners Chairman, spoke at the groundbreaking with Jessica Schuepbach, Workplace Market Leader at Helix Architecture + Design (second from the left), and other project team members in attendance. Images courtesy Helix Architecture + Design (COMCARE Crisis Center) and Robin Fertner, Sedgwick County Strategic Communications (groundbreaking).
Wichita, KS — Sedgwick County Government broke ground on a new adaptive reuse project that will expand much-needed access to mental health services in south-central Kansas. The new COMCARE Community Crisis Center (CCC) will consolidate the County’s services into a single building adjacent to the new Wichita Biomedical Campus (WBC). Helix Architecture + Design is leading the transformation, bringing the firm’s expertise in human-centered environments and adaptive reuse to the project. Helix is also part of the architecture and interiors team (with CO Architects) for the WBC, a joint initiative of the University of Kansas Medical Center, Wichita State University, and WSU Tech to establish a regional health sciences educational hub. Once operational, the CCC will offer WBC students hands-on clinical mental health training and possible career internships.
“Sedgwick County saw tremendous value in Helix working on the project neighboring Wichita Biomedical Campus so that the design would have continuity,” says Doug Stockman, AIA, Helix’s Director of Architecture and the project’s Principal-In-Charge. “From there, we really wanted to focus on creating a very welcoming and nurturing facility for staff, visitors, and patients.”
The new building will strategically transition COMCARE (a Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic) from a residential facility to a new level of care as a Crisis Intervention Center (CIC), enhancing access and providing stabilization services to those with more serious mental health needs. The CIC will allow for a centralized 9-8-8 suicide and crisis lifeline call center operations and 24/7 access to medical providers. It will also accommodate a broader list of mental health services, including crisis evaluation and intervention, crisis observation and stabilization, and sobering and social detox for substance use disorders. Synergies with the neighboring WBC corridor will provide additional community benefits.
“This historic groundbreaking allows COMCARE to meet the growing needs to some of the most vulnerable populations in our community,” Sedgwick County Commission Chairman Ryan Baty said. “Sedgwick County continues to lead the way by expanding and modernizing our approach as a mental health provider. The Community Crisis Center will have a long-term, generational impact on the residents of our region.”
The CCC will occupy an existing two-story, 35,100-square-foot Art Deco-inspired building constructed in 1920. Featuring street-facing façades consisting of limestone and brick, the building was previously used as a car dealership, department store, and a fitness-equipment showroom. To guide the process of reconfiguring the structure, Helix’s design team led a series of interactive workshops with the COMCARE staff and Sedgwick County administrators. The resulting approach centers on creating a secure, welcoming environment for both patients and staff. A new double-height, glass-enclosed lobby atrium and elevator shaft will add 900 square feet to the building. This will enhance accessibility and create a welcoming arrival experience that softens the needed security measures.
The new lobby also provides literal and philosophical connections to the outdoors, with exterior materials transversing the glass façade into the interior. Helix used the outdoors—specifically Wichita’s prairie-grass landscape—as inspiration for the project’s interior color palette. Warm and neutral hues combine to create inviting, soothing spaces. Materials finishes throughout feature soft wood tones that complement the existing brick along with light, layered colors to foster comfort and privacy. Acoustic wall panels, ceiling systems, and additional absorptive materials further help protect sensitive conversations. Natural light was also a priority, particularly for public areas and communal staff zones.
“The design concept for the project is rooted in providing a facility that respects both its patients’ ongoing recovery and the staff that aids in that process,” says Jessica Schuepbach, Helix’s Workplace Market Leader. “The Community Crisis Center’s interior spaces are designed to provide a path for healing.”
In order for Sedgwick County COMCARE staff to function at their best, they also need dedicated areas for respite—places where they can recharge physically and mentally before returning to the important work of care. This understanding shaped the design and planning of the building, ensuring that restorative environments are provided for both patients and the people who support them. Thoughtful space planning, natural light, calming materials, and access to quiet zones were all integrated to create a balanced environment where the needs of every occupant—whether they are receiving care or providing it—are supported. Ultimately, the building is designed to foster a sense of comfort and well-being for all who enter.
One of the design challenges was separating distinct programs while still maintaining a cohesive, connected environment. To serve COMCARE’s constituencies with the breadth of services offered, CCC accommodates patient rooms, a crisis observation unit, nurses’ stations, patient-meeting rooms, and visitation and shared-activity rooms. The staff enjoys flexible workspaces, private phone rooms, conference/training rooms, wellness and mother’s rooms, and a café-style lounge. On the upper level, Helix embraced the industrial building’s bow truss ceiling, leaving it exposed and creating partial walls as needed. These features support COMCARE’s long-term goals of improving care, accelerating recruitment, and strengthening staff retention.
Construction started in October 2025, with completion expected in December 2026. In addition to Helix as architect and interior designer, the project team includes CO Architects (programming consultant), Icon Structures (general contractor), MKEC Engineering Services (civil engineer and landscape architect), and Professional Engineering Consultants (MEP, structural, and IT/AV).
About Helix Architecture + Design
Helix Architecture + Design is an integrated architecture and interior design firm. Its diverse portfolio of work includes workplace, higher education, cultural, mixed-use, multifamily, civic, and hospitality projects with specialized expertise in renovation, adaptive reuse, and preservation of historic buildings. Helix has been recognized with more than 225 regional, national, and international awards for design excellence and thought leadership. In 2023, Helix became a majority women-owned firm under the direction of president and principal Erika Moody, FIIDA.
