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D E C E M B E R 2 0 2 1 | 7 P H OTO G R A P H Y BY A D R I A N OZI M EK ; TO M A R BA N ; S H A I G I L ; R I C H A R D J O H N S O N /CO U RT E S Y PA R K I N A RC H I T EC T S L I M I T ED Parkin Architects Limited H uman-centred design has never been more important than it is today. If there's anything the past 18 months has taught us, it's the role of buildings and their ability through design to either make us feel confined, or provide us with a shelter where we feel safe. "I will always remember this one story... it has had a last- ing impact on me," says Cameron Shantz, director at Parkin Architects Limited. "We had completed the Southwest Centre for Forensic Mental Health Care in St. Thomas, Ontario and the client told us about this one guy, who, in the original facility, would always sleep on the floor. When he moved to the new facility he finally felt safe enough to sleep in his own bed. That was the first time he had slept in a bed in about 10 years. You hear stories like that and you realize you can make an impact on people's healing journey." Parkin Architects Limited is the epitome of human-centred design … and they've been designing that way long before the term was first coined by Mike Cooley back in 1989. STEP BACK IN TIME Since the company first opened its doors in Toronto back in 1938 by John B. Parkin, the name Parkin has been synonymous with impactful and meaningful design. When John B. Parkin and John C. Parkin (no relation) joined forces in 1947 to start the firm John B. Parkin and Associates, their goal was, as Toronto critic Christopher Hume once said, "to drag Toronto, and Canada, kicking and screaming into the modern age [while bringing] a bigger perspective to archi- tectural issues." Shantz recalls, "When I was just a kid, Parkin was such a prominent name in Canadian architecture; it was one of the three or four preeminent names in the country. They designed a lot of amazing buildings like Toronto City Hall and Terminal 1 and 2 at Toronto Pearson Airport, and were involved in the design of the National Gallery of Canada with Moshe Safdie." MAKING A DIFFERENCE Today, employee-owned Parkin is in what Shantz describes as the "third version of the company," and while it has come a long way – with three offices across Canada and more than 140 employees specializing in architectural services for institutional clients, including acute and mental health care, recreation, science, technology and research, justice, corrections, and education – the philosophy to make a real difference in the world remains at its core. "We feel what we do is meaningful. Knowing that definitely helps on the tough days," says Shantz, who joined the company back in 1987 and is one of four direc- tors (the other three being Mark Michasiw, Robin Snell, and John MacSween). You just need to look at Parkin's portfolio to better understand what he means by meaningful: from the Juravinski Hospital Stem Cell Transplant Unit, and the ErinoakKids Children's Treatment Centre in Mississauga to the Hamilton Health Sciences' David Braley Cardiac Vascular Stroke Research Institute, and the University of Toronto's Physics Undergraduate Teaching Labs. Every project is so much more than just a building. For Shantz, three projects that truly stand out to him are the previously men- tioned Southwest Centre for Forensic Mental Health Care in St. Thomas Ontario, the Providence Care Hospital in Kingston, and St Mary's General Hospital in Kitchener. For the 89-bed Southwest Centre for Forensic Mental Health Care the goal was to challenge the aesthetic typically associated with a forensic detention facility, and support the client's healing process by using colour to enhance the environment and improve the staff work environment. To maximize the impact and positive benefits, careful consideration was given to associating colours with the designated areas. Input was collected from clinical users who had amassed their own body of knowledge, stakeholders who had experience with colour therapy, as well as anecdotal evidence from their own professional experience. The Providence Care Hospital in Kingston took the same collaborative approach (as with all Parkin projects) to create a new hub for more complete and specialized in-patient care in Kingston. The project conjoined programs from two existing sites into a new facility of 270 beds; 90 mental health and 180 rehabilitation, CCC and geriatric. Parkin designed the façade development to create a home-like, non-institutional, patient-centred environment. Glazed public sequences create opportunities for visual connectivity between public and private realms, offer connections to nature, serve to embody concepts of recovery and transition, and diminish the stigma associated with mental health facilities. But it is the St. Mary's General Hospital project that has an even deeper mean- ing to Shantz. "I grew up in Waterloo and my mum was born in that hospital," he explains. "My dad was a doctor in Kitchener, and I remember as a kid him doing rounds on a Saturday. It was an absolute honour a number of years later to redesign the entire hospital and put on the new addition." MODEL OF SUCCESS The success of each and every Parkin project is down to a number of factors: the team's attitude to clients and focus on giving good personal service; their vast experience and caring nature; relationships built on years of trust; their col- laborative model (often including patients as well as doctors in discussions from the starting gate); and their design approach. "Over the years there have been big shifts in the way projects are delivered," says Shantz. "Parkin and one of our successors have been heavily involved in the P3 [Public-Private Partnerships] market. This requires a more collaborative approach and is a better integration between design and construction. Using this model we've learned a phenomenal amount; we now think about how we design things both holistically and operationally," explains Shantz. As the world continues to navigate its way through the pandemic, Shantz believes this collaboration is the only way forward for the success of complex projects, and he's excited to see what the future holds. And while at present what that future looks like remains a little uncertain, there is one thing that is guaranteed: Parkin plans to be around for another 80 years, providing truly meaningful services to its clients largely derived from the partnerships that they foster. A Juravisnksi Hospital Stem Cell Transplant Unit ErinoakKids Children's Treatment Centre St. Mary's General Hospital Southwest Centre for Forensic Mental Health Care