Up against projects with construction values in the hundreds of millions, the $5 million, 1100 s.f. CIBC Breast Assessment Centre won the International Future Health Design Award at the 8th Design & Health World Congress and Exhibition in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Designed by Zeidler Partnership Architects for Hamilton Health Sciences for the Juravinski Hospital site, the Centre responds to the changing role of the hospital within the wider health system and the community; it was lauded as a prototype for community-centred care that could be applied universally.
Medical research has shown how sensory design improves the rate of successful patient recoveries. Based on the principles of salutogenesis, the CIBC Breast Assessment Centre is the first in North America that follows what is becoming an international trend in wellness centres that concurrently emphasize emotional and physical health. The centre exemplifies the union of environment, humanity and sustainability to reduce anxiety in a holistic manner: through physical integration with the city and the existing hospital, and its programming-community activity and education. Water, natural light and landscape work with the health centre's interior design to create an oasis- like, dignified environment for arrival and waiting. The atmosphere ensures positive stimulation for women receiving preventative and diagnostic services. This salutogenic vision for healthy environments anticipates socio-economic challenges of the future.
Visitors first discover the pavilion as a quiet, warm object in the city. From the street, it is a garden oasis. A large green wall on the west shelters the pavilion: an immediate change of pace from the vibrant city. The main entrance, protected by a cantilevered canopy, provides visitors with both a visual connection and access to the back garden, where they can sit by the falling water feature. The pavilion's façade is composed of open slatted wood, which filters light from the garden through the interior glass façade into the main waiting area. To enter, visitors traverse a floating path above the contemplation pool, through an intimate sanctuary to arrive at the reception. From this point, they are directed to the waiting areas, resource areas and education classrooms. Visitors will find increasingly intimate spaces with finer layers of zonal activity. Height and transparency create expansive yet cozy spaces. The interplay of shadows, and sounds of trickling water and wind through rustling leaves of the green wall set a positive calming tone of what feels more like a retreat than a healthcare centre.
The eastern side of the centre comprises diagnostic and assessment areas, staff support and administrative zones. While the pavilion spaces lead naturally to the hospital's public areas like the cafeteria, this technical zone connects to clinical areas and supports hospital inpatients. Surgeons, radiologist and pathologist work in quiet, collaborative spaces. Interface areas, some of which facilitate family consultation, carefully fuse internal and public spaces.
As a result of its salutogenic design, the CIBC Breast Assessment Centre is a landmark symbol of advanced care for breast health.