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DECEMBER 2019 | 43 HSC Winnipeg Women's Hospital PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY HEALTH SCIENCES CENTRE WINNIPEG HSC Winnipeg Women's Hospital by NATALIE BRUCKNER LOCATION 665 William Avenue, Winnipeg, Manitoba OWNER/DEVELOPER Health Sciences Centre Winnipeg ARCHITECTS Architecture49 / Parkin Architects GENERAL CONTRACTOR EllisDon Corporation STRUCTURAL CONSULTANT Crosier Kilgour & Partners MECHANICAL/ ELECTRICAL CONSULTANT SMS Engineering TOTAL SIZE 388,500 square feet TOTAL COST $232.9 million T he new HSC Winnipeg Women's Hospital is a stand-out project for many reasons. Not only is it the largest capital health project in the his- tory of Manitoba and the city's most comprehensive centre for women's health care, but it is three times larger than Winnipeg's current women's hos- pital, bringing an array of women's health services all under one roof. "The hospital is a game-changer for how we will be able to deliver care to women and babies in the future," says Monika Warren, acting chief nursing officer at HSC Winnipeg, to which Nicole Sneath, acting director, child health adds, "This new facility has raised the bar on hospital design in this province." Rooted in the philosophy of patient and family-centred care, the new five- storey hospital has been designed with extensive public and staff consultation. From the ambulance bays, triage, and retail services to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), operating rooms, inpatient, and spiritual centres (includ- ing a ceremonial space for smudging), substantial input was required to ensure the new facility would become a place of caring support for all fami- lies of Winnipeg and across Manitoba, northwestern Ontario, and Nunavut. The building is set adjacent to the existing campus and on a brown- field site where the former Weston Bakery was located. "The site wraps around HSC's Harry Medovy building, which required significant modi- fications to address exiting during the construction of the hospital. The new hospital is also connected to the rest of the HSC Campus via an over- head bridge and underground tunnel, which was constructed in multiple phases to allow the province's busiest emergency departments' ambulance drop-offs to remain fully operational," explains Larry Wiens, principal at Architecture49 Inc. (prime consultant). For the design of the building, a public consultation process helped create a vision statement that would guide the design. The outcome was three guiding principles: to be a place to serve the unique and diverse health- care needs of women through their life cycle; to be a place to advance care through excellence in research and education; and to be welcoming, respectful, calming, and peaceful. It was also concluded that the design should develop a women and family centred environment, ensure functional effectiveness, become a cen- tre of excellence, ensure the safety and security of staff and patients, promote sustainability, and encourage positive neighbourhood integration. Using an Integrated Design Process (IDP), stakeholder groups and consul- tants were all given a voice as to the building's direction. "Everyone was encouraged to think systems not silos and asked to brainstorm about what the project should be. The key issues identified formed the project charter," adds Wiens. On the exterior of the building mate- rials were chosen that would relate to the existing scale, texture, and char- acter of the neighbourhood. "With this in mind, the building utilizes high- performance unitized fritted glass curtain wall with an elm tree graphic that pays homage to Winnipeg's heri- tage elm canopy along commercial Sherbrook Street and William Avenue. The building also features a raw gal- vanized finish on the tapered conical columns at the covered urban entrance plaza, while the north residential side features an exterior green wall that softens the building mass, and there is a shingled zinc cladding that mim- ics shingled dormers found along Elgin Avenue," says Wiens. The south facade of the building has a striking pixelated array enclosing a three-storey team room suspended above the entry on levels three to five, form- ing the architectural signature corner. For the interior of the building, the results of the intensive consultation process can once again be witnessed on each and every floor. "Feedback was provided by patients, community mem- bers, staff, and physicians, and the key features in the building are a reflection of that feedback regarding the privacy, natural light, and the spaces that are designed to allow a support person/ family to be close by," explains Lynda Tjaden, director, Women's Health. In an online survey conducted by the Winnipeg Health Region, more than 900 Manitobans logged on to vote for one of two interior design concepts, based on the themes of wildflowers or blankets – 72 percent preferred the wildflower concept. 9:12 AM

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