Award

J UNE 2019 | 67 The Village Langley WATERCOLOUR RENDERINGS BY SARA FERNANDEZ/COURTESY NSDA ARCHITECTS The Village Langley by ROBIN BRUNET T he bird's-eye renderings depict a quaint village whose steep-pitched roofs are clustered together, enclosed by a wood fence with stables and a vegetable garden to one side and surrounded by forest: almost fairy tale in appearance. But there's nothing fictional about The Village Langley. It is a 75-unit Alzheimer and dementia care facil- ity on seven acres in Langley, B.C. and its distinct appearance represents Canada's first attempt to care for those with memory loss in a completely different fashion than the standard institutionalized approach. Scott Thorburn, VP of Canbrit Developments Ltd. and development manager of The Village, explains, "We wanted residents to roam freely throughout the property, which we developed to consist of four buildings, three of them duplexes containing two houses with 12 residents and staff, and the fourth building being a com- munity centre." Elroy Jespersen, project lead, adds, "We took inspiration from a variety of sources, including a Dutch model for Alzheimer patient care and the U.S. Greenhouse project, in which small groups of patients lived together like families." Canbrit secured a seven-acre former public school site for The Village, and NSDA Architects developed the build- ings and pathways to fill out four acres of that site. "Our work began in 2016 with Jerry Doll, our principal-in-charge [now retired] and then I took it over midway," says Brian Dust, principal of NSDA. "Eitaro Hirota, project architect, has seen this project to completion from the initial design concepts through to construction administration." This team of architects designed the one-storey households as a clus- ter of cottages that enclose common spaces opening up to the exterior (with the cluster effect achieved through the use of multiple rooflines and articu- lated building walls). Two households of 12 and 13 residents form a duplex that share a spa, administration, and services spaces such as laundry and mechanical rooms. Each household has a series of common spaces spatially linked but scaled, so the residents can easily find their own space. Dust adds that each household was also designed with an open concept kitchen to allow the residents to take part in meal preparation: "The aromas of food are known to trigger memories and give a sense of time and rhythm of the day for the residents." NSDA designed the community building to house shops, art and wood workshop areas, a barbershop and spa – which the residents are free to visit as if they would when going to their local town centre. The community build- ing was also designed to be open to the public, in order to create continuity to the surrounding neighbourhood. Equally important, the internal cir- culation and private outdoor paths of the households were designed as loops to allow for wandering. "Loops and fig- ure eights always bring the wanderer back to where he or she started instead of meandering paths that might get them lost," explains Meredith Mitchell, principal at M2 Landscape Architecture. The design team also used colours and smells to benefit residents. "We researched the cultural background of the people who would be occupying the homes, and this dictated our plantings, for example: cedar elements would reso- nate with people who had spent all their lives in B.C., while lilac would be very familiar to Albertans," says Mitchell. VanMar Constructors Inc. broke ground on the project in February of 2018, and project manager Mark Meerstra says that while site condi- tions were good (plenty of space for staging, as well as excellent drainage), "It was a challenging build due to the complexity of design, with the different rooflines and articulated facades. Also, the efficient sequencing of the trades was crucial as they were hopping back and forth between the four residential buildings as they were taking shape." The Village is scheduled to open in the summer of 2019, and Dust says, "We've been doing complex care proj- ects for 30 years now, and The Village concept of care is something we were passionate about pursuing. This is a real breakthrough for the care industry." Thorburn hopes The Village Langley will be successful enough to inspire similar care homes in the future. "People with memory issues comprise a shockingly underserved market in Canada, and The Village is our solu- tion," he says. "A lot of people in the care business are watching this project closely, and we have high hopes that it will be a template moving forward." A LOCATION 3920 198 Street, Langley, B.C. OWNER/DEVELOPER Canbrit Developments Ltd. ARCHITECT NSDA Architects GENERAL CONTRACTOR Vanmar Constructors Inc. STRUCTURAL CONSULTANT Weiler Smith Bowers Consulting Structural Engineers MECHANICAL CONSULTANT MCW Consultants ELECTRICAL CONSULTANT Jarvis Engineering Consultants Ltd. LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT M2 Landscape Architecture TOTAL SIZE 55,000 square feet TOTAL COST $28 million 1:56 PM 1:57 PM 9:55 AM 2:31 PM

• Cover