Project Sectors
HISTORY
For many years, the Chicken Indian Reserve and the adjacent township of Stony Rapids, Saskatchewan, has required a facility that would serve their population’s healthcare needs and the needs of the surrounding rural communities. The forested site is geographically diverse, located on the banks of the Fond du Lac River and the edge of the granite hills of the Canadian Shield.
VISION
The site’s rural and remote location presented an interesting challenge: to create a high-efficiency and technologically advanced facility that would serve a diverse patient population and offer modern, western medical services alongside traditional healthcare practices. Throughout our integrative and holistic design process, we invited engagement from our stakeholders and community members to ensure the design’s immediate and long-term success. The facility’s building systems and components have been selected with respect to the local climate, freight requirements, emergency power, and local labour force skills and opportunities.
INTERWOVEN WITH THE LAND AND SPIRIT
By continuously engaging and collaborating with our stakeholder communities, a facility was brought to life that promotes and supports not only physical well-being, but the thriving of the human spirit. The building’s curving, narrow mass ensures that each room of the two-storey facility receives adequate natural lighting, and that the occupants of the patient rooms, located on the north side of the facility, can hear the sound of the Fond du Lac located a mere 100 meters away.
THE FOREFRONT OF SUSTAINABILITY
Through the use of a well-insulated building envelope, high-performance operable windows, and efficient building systems, the building reduces energy consumption by 55%, as compared to the National Energy Building Code.
RECOGNITION
- Venice Biennale in Architecture, selected as part of the 41° to 66° - Architecture in Canada: Region, Culture, Tectonics project, 2008
- 41° to 66° - Architecture in Canada: Region, Culture, Tectonics, Juried Competition, 2005
