Main Entry with frosted glass and open doors. Harlem Family Services Clinic (HFS) designed by Soluri Architecture.
Waiting Area with reception desk and curving cove lighting above. Harlem Family Services Clinic (HFS) designed by Soluri Architecture.
Recpetion with view down hallway and children's play area. Harlem Family Services Clinic (HFS) designed by Soluri Architecture.
View down hallway with bookcases and children's play area at end. Harlem Family Services Clinic (HFS) designed by Soluri Architecture.
Detail of children's play area in Hallway with children's table and coloring pencils. Harlem Family Services Clinic (HFS) designed by Soluri Architecture.
View into Treatment Room from Hallway - Harlem Family Services Clinic (HFS) designed by Soluri Architecture
Treatment Room for children and familes - Harlem Family Services Clinic (HFS) designed by Soluri Architecture
Reception & Waiting Area with painted community mural, and wood donor wall. Harlem Family Services Clinic (HFS) designed by Soluri Architecture
Mission Statement & Mural - Harlem Family Services Clinic (HFS) designed by Soluri Architecture
Multipurpose Playroom - Harlem Family Services Clinic (HFS)Harlem Family Services Clinic (HFS) designed by Soluri Architecture
Plan of the HFS Clinic

Harlem Family Services

The Margaret Morgan Lawrence Center for Family and Child Development is a NY State-licensed Article 31 Mental Health Clinic in NYC’s Harlem neighborhood, providing evidence-based, trauma-informed services that empower individuals, families, and communities to heal and thrive.

Owned by Harlem Family Services (HFS), the clinic provides underserved, uninsured, and marginalized populations with access to high-quality care that addresses critical mental health needs with compassion and cultural responsiveness.

Built within a raw community facility space in a new mixed-use building, the clinic’s 1,400sf first phase (presented here) contains three treatment rooms designed for families with small children and a large multipurpose room for children’s play therapy, group therapy, and community meetings.

To make the most of limited space, the hallway bends around the reception and pantry without hard corners. Using rounded corners throughout the project evolved from client discussions about eliminating the hard, aggressive corners common in healthcare facilities in favor of a softer, safer, and calming environment for children and families. Cove lighting wraps the hallway, emphasizing this continuous curving motion while providing calming indirect light. Existing ceiling-mounted pipes and equipment were relocated, allowing the slab’s underside to be finished which increased the hallway height by more than a foot. Wood, warm colors, carefully considered lighting, and built-in bookcases further contribute to a calming, homelike environment while evoking HFS’s history of training clinicians in Harlem for 33 years.

The project’s second 1,100sf phase was built concurrently and includes four additional treatment rooms, a conference room, and administrative space that HFS can expand into when ready.

Named for Dr. Margaret Morgan Lawrence, a founding member of HFS’s parent organization, the clinic honors a pioneer in child psychiatry and mental health who advocated for integrating psychoanalysis with community health and was among the first African Americans certified in psychoanalysis in New York.

For more information on HFS and the services they provide at the clinic, please go to their website here.