Project Photos
Niagara Health System’s (NHS’s) new LEED Silver hospital and Walker Family Cancer Centre replaces four aging regional hospitals and was the first Design, Build, Finance, Maintain (DBFM) hospital to be delivered through Infrastructure Ontario, the province’s new Alternative Financing Procurement (AFP) delivery model. Completed on time and under budget, this full-service hospital is Canada’s first to have Operating Suites lined with Corian walls for improved infection prevention and control, and 80 per cent of its inpatient rooms are singles.
NHS’s St. Catharines Site establishes comprehensive cancer care – including radiation therapy – for the first time in the Niagara Region, strengthens local options for cardiac diagnostic and interventional care, and is the regional centre for maternity care and acute mental health care.
B+H was the lead architect on this project in joint venture with clinical design specialists Silver Thomas Hanley (STH). Several outpatient clinics were part of B+H’s scope, and the Clinical interiors were designed by B+H’s interior design department, in conjunction with STH. One of our team’s most consequential decisions on a healthcare campus encompassing nearly one million square feet was to focus in the early design stages on achieving the best possible adjacencies and shortest travel distances. Our solution was to consolidate program blocks around a light-filled double-height ‘main street’ and square. Patients and visitors access all inpatient units from a central elevator core, which simplifies way-finding and significantly reduces travel distance from the main entries.
A ‘main street’ stone wall inspired by the Niagara Escarpment, a warm materials palette, and abundant natural light contribute to an ambience that reflects the landscape of one of Ontario’s most beautiful agricultural regions.