Eastern State Hospital, the state-run inpatient psychiatric facility at Medical Lake, has issued a request for qualifications for an architect to provide design services for two projects valued at a combined total of $1.3 million.

Projects include renovating the Westlake building west of the main campus, and security improvements at the Eastlake building on the main campus, says Gayle Bonnett, a project manager and architect for the state Department of Social and Health Services.

"We also want the architect to be the campus architect to deal with unanticipated projects that might happen during the next year and a half," Bonnett says. "That sometimes happens when there's an emergency."

The Westlake project is budgeted at $685,500 and will include updating existing doors and hardware, lighting, and the electrical system at the two-story, 107,500-square-foot building, she says. The building houses the geropsychiatric unit, which serves severely mentally ill patients who are more than 50 years old.

The Eastlake project is budgeted at $570,000 and includes updating the security system for the hospital's forensic services unit, including replacing antiquated systems with current technology for the control door, intercom and paging, electronic access, closed-circuit TV, and wireless alarms, Bonnett says.

The forensic services unit houses patients who've entered the hospital through the criminal justice system.

In addition to the forensic services unit, the 200,000-square-foot Eastlake building houses the adult psychiatric unit, which is an inpatient facility for severely mentally ill adults up to 50 years old.

The deadline to submit qualifications for architectural services is today, Oct. 20. The department will select a short list of candidates and begin interviewing them on Nov. 17.

The department plans to seek contractor bids next spring to enable construction to begin around mid-July. The projects are scheduled to be completed in February 2013.

Eastern State Hospital is one of two state-owned psychiatric hospitals for adults in Washington. The 287-bed facility serves 21 Eastern Washington counties.