In the project, 1.8 million bricks were used. Those new brick buildings will be painted white soon something that has caused concern among some staff members who would rather see them remain red. To use such matching brick would have been too costly, they said. Focal point of the campus is the existing Tower Building, a near replica of Independence Hall. The foundation's priorities in the construction, officials said, were to preserve the natural beauty of the land, to complement the existing buildings and most importantly, to establish and to maintain a human scale.
Covered walkways connect many of the buildings.
Brick walkways wind through the campus. Roy Menninger said it has been exciting for the foundation to design a new psychiatric hospital based on its views of what psychiatric care should be. This heavy-duty construction project also indicates the foundation's commitment to Topeka, he said. It has provided opportunities for work, for living quarters, employment for patients, education, social services, recreational activities. I cannot imagine this kind of vital input being possible in any other city.