Issue link: http://digital.canadawide.com/i/147234
photos: kenneth armstrong Extendicare Maple View of Sault Ste. Marie by Yvan Marston ucked into a deciduous forest on a hill with a view of Sault Ste. Marie, the new Extendicare facility has the look of a large ski lodge. In fact, if the dormers on its mansard roof were each draped in a blanket of fresh snow, clumps of white sticking to the structure's wood-like fibrous cement siding, it could be hard not to mistake it for anything other than a resort. Even inside, this notion carries on. The foyer features a large twostorey hearth fireplace surrounded by mission-style furniture and the air is filled with the scent of fresh-baked cookies. But skiers aren't the norm in this building where the average age of the user is upwards of 75. The centre's 150,000 square feet are mostly dedicated to making this long-term care facility, owned and operated by Extendicare, feel like a home – not only for its residents but for the families that visit. To the right of the entrance there is a fully-functioning kitchen styled to look like it belongs in a farmhouse. Here, men hold a weekly breakfast club and families and residents gather regularly to practice baking skills and share communal cooking experiences. "The main idea behind this type of work is to embed a sense of home and hospitality to what can otherwise be an institutionally-driven and cold environment," says Santiago Kunzle, the project designer and a principal with Montgomery Sisam Architects. By the time the firm was tapped to design Extendicare's newest facilities, one in Timmins and this one in Sault Ste. Marie, it had already built seven over the last four years and had become a trusted source for T 82/ august 2013 p82-83Extendicare_Forensic.indd 82 creating the company's long-term care environments. The latest centre, located on six acres of a 150-acre woodlot that is part of Sault College's campus, is one piece of a long-term plan to redevelop 35,000 older care beds over 10 years. The plan is expected to reduce the pressure on Sault Area Hospital, where typically 40 per cent of the beds are occupied by patients waiting for acceptance to another type of care facility. The facility opened its doors this spring completely tenanted by 256 residents who were moved from two existing centres, which are to be redeveloped to add more bed capacity to the region. The four-storey building is formed around a large enclosed and landscaped courtyard and rooms are organized into groups of 32 called resident home areas (RHA). Each of these is named after a local landmark – a place name that would have meaning to residents – like Harmony Bay or Ranger Lake. There are two RHAs per floor and each has a nursing station, dining room, lounge and terrace. The RHAs are comprised of 185-square-foot private rooms and 150-square-foot semi-private rooms (which share a bathroom) – a considerable upgrade for many residents used to sharing a four-person wardroom. "This is a remarkable change for some of the most fragile people in our population. Imagine trying to sleep at night in a ward room with three other people," says Shelley McEachern, administrator at the new facility. "Residents sleep through the night now. Many have not enjoyed the peace of mind a good night's sleep brings in a long time." While there are specific amenities organized throughout the floors, such as a hair salon on the second floor, a chapel on the main floor as well as a library and an Internet cafe, and a large gym equipped with resistance machines, all the RHAs look the same save for the colour schemes. "We used colour to help with way finding," says Kunzle, explaining that since the human eye degenerates as it ages, the team avoided blues and greens and worked with reds, yellows and earth tones that are easier for an older population to distinguish. With its accessible corner terraces and large resident-room windows, the centre was designed to take advantage of the surrounding landscape. "We maximized views to the woodlot by putting the majority of the rooms on the outer ring of the courtyard," says Kunzle. It is a design that provides more light and more of a connection to the immediate surroundings. A naturalized tree-planting program was used to make the trees fit with the site, which is used as an outdoor lab for Sault College forest conservation students. Closer to the building, Ernst Kreps' firm, Design Environment Landscape Architects, used ornamental trees and grasses, the latter of which serves to provide the landscape with movement. The majority of the plantings, both for the courtyard and throughout the site, were native species chosen for the ability to resist drought. "More and more of my clients select plantings this way because a lot of projects don't want to use irrigation systems," says Kreps. Indeed, water conservation is among the elements Extendicare Maple View of Sault Ste. Marie is using to target a LEED Silver certification. There is also an indoor air quality (IAQ) that sees four air exchanges an hour, PVC windows that provide abundant access to natural light but protect from heat gain with a Low-E coating, as well as an innovative exterior wall system designed to improve energy efficiency. "The walls are designed to minimize thermal bridging," says Kunzle, explaining that it is a combination of layers of cross bracing that use hat channels designed to reduce the amount of steel in contact with the exterior. There is also insulation that is placed in front of the steel stud face. All this serves to reduce the conductivity of the entire assembly, making the walls more effective. Indeed, the efficiency and the functionality of the space is what will enable it to fulfill its key purpose as a long-term care institutional space. But it is the attention to detail, such as the wood-like sheet vinyl on the dining room floors, the table lamps in the lounges and the rich, contemporary colours selected for everything from carpets to drapes that make this look like a home. The space has the ability to promote communities and interaction that will make it feel like a home. n location 770 Great Northern Road Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario Owner/Developer Extendicare (Canada) Inc. Architect Montgomery Sisam Architects construction manager EllisDon Corporation Structural Consultant Read Jones Christoffersen Ltd. Mechanical/Electrical Consultant MMM Group Limited Landscape Architect Design Environment Landscape Architect Inc. Total Area 150,000 square feet Total Cost $46 million Extendicare Maple View of Sault Ste. Marie 13-07-12 2:06 PM