The center’s origins in 1959 offered little promise of such structural sophistication. A cohort of young university graduates arrived in Victory Township and, lacking heavy machinery, raised the first walls of the original medical post using hand tools and local clay. That early ethos of manual self-reliance resurfaced decades later in the massive concrete pour of the Kangyang Center. Rising as the largest single building in Zigong at the time of its completion, this structure physically manifests the hospital's strategic pivot from a secluded psychiatric facility to a comprehensive geriatric hub. The design prioritizes integration over isolation, replacing the enclosed atmosphere of traditional asylums with open, light-filled spaces intended for a "medical-nursing combination."

Today, the complex stands in the industrial landscape of the Gongjing District as a sophisticated engine for care. The physical expansion—from the makeshift mud-brick huts of the late fifties to high-rise towers equipped with advanced imaging systems—charts the region’s economic trajectory. Yet, the core function remains unchanged. Zigong Mental Health Center serves as a protective shell, insisting that the most fragile members of society deserve the most robust structures.