Custom Steni Facades Bring Color and Nature-Inspired Design to Dayton Children's New Behavioral Health Center
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Steni Colour and Steni Vision panels contribute to the welcoming, child-centered design of the Mathile Center for Mental Health and Wellness.
Steni facade panels are featured on the new Mathile Center for Mental Health and Wellness at Dayton Children's Hospital in Dayton, Ohio. The $108 million facility expands access to specialized behavioral healthcare for children and adolescents, bringing multiple services together in a purpose-built, therapeutic setting.
Designed by Champlin Architecture in collaboration with CannonDesign, the center emphasizes a welcoming, child-centered environment rather than a conventional institutional atmosphere. Outdoor courtyards, natural light, and views of nature are central to the design, creating connections to the outdoors while supporting patient well-being and staff visibility.
A Facade Inspired by Nature
The building's exterior incorporates three distinct Steni finishes: Steni Colour Custom panels, Steni Vision wood-grain panels, and Steni Vision panels featuring a custom dandelion graphic.
The custom-colored panels contribute to the building's architectural palette, while the wood-grain finishes introduce the visual warmth and texture of natural wood. The dandelion imagery adds a distinctive graphic element to the facade, extending the project's nature-inspired design to the building exterior.
Steni Vision allows custom imagery and patterns to be digitally printed directly onto durable facade panels, giving architects the flexibility to incorporate graphics into the building's architectural expression.
Together, the three finishes create a coordinated exterior that reflects the center's emphasis on a welcoming, therapeutic environment.
Project Collaboration
Approximately 12,650 square feet of Steni panels were used on the project, installed with adhesive fixing and bird's-beak joint profiles.
The panels were supplied by Omnis Panels, with REPS Roofing & Exterior Products Services serving as the local representative. Danis Construction was the general contractor.
The Mathile Center demonstrates how custom colors, realistic material finishes, and digitally printed imagery can be combined to create a distinctive facade for a specialized healthcare facility.
