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StFX Campus Planning

Framework Plan Project

The St. John Ambulance Headquarters building is a hybrid one story building that combines several functions under one roof: administrative centre, supply warehouse, learning and teaching facility, and home base for travelling instructors.

Wood provided a familiar building material and economical choice for smaller-scaled portions of the building. The Administration wing of the project is primarily standard dimensional framing – easily adaptable and configurable for a standard office layout for private and shared workspaces. The wood trusses in the classroom wing provide column-free learning spaces and enhance the aesthetics of the exposed tongue and groove structural pine decking in these spaces. Clerestory windows are spaced between each of the classrooms’ trusses with light fixtures integrated into the truss forms themselves, providing an integrated approach to daylighting and artificial lighting strategies.

Wood, expressed as an interior finish in classroom spaces, provides a warm natural material, creating engaging spaces in which to teach and learn.

Overall, responsible use of wood was an important part of the project’s sustainability goals.

Wood was chosen to work in conjunction with steel in order to take advantage of efficiencies for different spans, provide character to interior spaces where exposed, and offer an easy to source and easy to work with material.

Steel post and beam structure provides the framework within which a curving and expressive exterior curtainwall is implemented: wood trusses continue from the interior to provide a generous and protective overhang that helps keep the interior spaces at the curtainwall comfortable, while connected to the exterior. The use of steel in this area minimized the number and size of columns and allowed them to more easily be located outside of the building envelope.

The standard dimensional framing of the administrative area was a cost-effective and easy-to-construct approach that helped keep on-site activities moving.

Plywood was used in conjunction with standard dimensional framing to provide shearwalls as part of the overall structural solution.

WoodWorks! Atlantic

This project represents the second in a series of three health centres in Nunavut designed in conjunction with Stantec (formerly FSC Architects and Engineers). Nycum provided full architectural services, interior design and healthcare specialty design expertise related to the building interiors, as well as furniture and medical equipment consulting. The third project, in Arctic Bay, is presently under construction and slated to open in 2017.

Here is the CBC’s article on the opening!

The space, while well maintained, had not been upgraded for many years and needed to reflect the brand and ethos of an aerospace company: the brief was to bring more light in, modernize the finishes to reflect the high-tech products for which the company is known, create an inviting atmosphere for visitors and clients and elevate the experience of employees who enter and exit through the front doors every day.

The design minimizes visual clutter by developing a restrained, sophisticated palette and balances harder surfaces referencing glass, concrete and metal with warm wood millwork.

Nycum is providing Architectural and Interior Design and planning services to the Prime Consultant, Stantec (formerly Dessau) in Longueuil, QC

Check out our Facebook page for project photo albums

Find Arctic Bay on a map (look up, look way up!)

April 30, 2015

Would it be safer to have Multi Gender Change rooms in our schools and how can we design these so that BULLYING is decreased and PRIVACY is improved?

Guidelines have been released to to support transgender and gender-nonconforming students. These guidelines state “All students have a right to safe washroom and change facilities.” We are launching an open-source forum on the possible design of Multi-Gender Change rooms. To read these guidelines click here.

Based on this theme we have four variations exploring how we can improve these environments. Feel free to walk through the four variations by clicking on our 3D viewer link on the right and let us know what you think. We have also released the Sketch Up model so you can create your own version. Click on the link to the right to download the Sketch Up file and don’t hesitate to send us your model at: mail@nycum.com

In recent decades, the debate over institutionalization vs. de-institutionalization has highlighted the tensions that continue to exist between architecture and psychiatric care and treatment. This is nothing new: architecture and psychiatry have shared parallel and intertwined roles in the care and treatment of persons with mental illness for the past 200 years. For example, the influential Kirkbride asylum design formalized the theory that the built environment was a key factor in the cure of mental illness in the middle of the 19th century. Psychiatric architecture reflects moral beliefs and social systems of urbanization, community, shelter, control and our quest for utopia. It is therefore not surprising that they each address social issues with solutions that are usually prescriptive but occasionally utterly inspiring.

As the professions of psychiatry and architecture face the future, changes like virtualization, technology, convergence, integration, and availability of resources will drastically alter the social needs they serve. Present day Psychiatry will increasingly be unburdened by the need for space in which to do its work, providing an opportunity to lead all types of medical practice through the transformation of healthcare, society, and the built environment.

What happens when you design a portfolio of projects using a design standard?

We examined the designs of 44 newly constructed Nursing Home facilities in Nova Scotia in order to study how they followed a newly introduced design standard. We wanted to learn how closely the facilities resembled one another, and where they differed. The projects were designed by different teams for different builder-operators, and were designed and constructed roughly simultaneously. We found it intriguing how design standards can both restrict and encourage innovation and best practices (which are always evolving). This is a summary of our findings along with some considerations for crafting a design standard.

1. Not everyone interprets design standards in the way in which they were intended, and their meaning may not be widely and consistently understood. What is a “design standard” and what does it actually mean? (Is it official? Is it a guideline? A law?)
View the standard as driven by outcomes, rather than prescribed methods of getting to those outcomes, and include explanations of intent within the standard. Be clear about the enforceability of the standard.

2. Procurement processes in a multi-project portfolio impact the interpretation of the standard. The values against which the winning designers/constructors/operators are selected (i.e. cost, sustainability, durability, quality etc.) can impact the way the standard is interpreted and either curtail or enhance opportunities for innovation
Consider how procurement mechanisms relate to the standard that will be enforced. Are the procurement values in synch with the standard’s values? Seek alignment. If the main objective of the standard is durability, do not procure for lowest cost – the result will be challenges to the standard where durability can be interpreted in multiple ways.

3. A standard that is radically different from existing practices means that the processes of the occupants will be forced to change. Culture change must occur quickly and within the premise of “what will be.” This can be challenging at the best of times, but difficulties in adapting can be amplified when the impacts of a standard are not well understood, as is often the case.
Implement a structured culture change process as part of the design standard roll-out.

4. Designing and constructing several facilities simultaneously reduces opportunities to learn from project to project. This is not a factor of standards, but of the timing of implementation of projects that follow the standard.
Implement projects in sequence and include a mechanism for studying impacts on a project-by-project basis. Include mechanisms in the standard to allow for adaptations from lessons learned.

5. Unexpected interdepartmental conflicts may emerge within government agencies responsible for various aspects of review and approval. For example, in a healthcare project in Nova Scotia, the Department of Agriculture may have concerns with food delivery, floor finishes, and tasks of the front line workers as outlined in the standard. Work-arounds during implementation to satisfy conflicts between agencies can cause cost and timeline chain reactions.
Cast a wide stakeholder engagement net in the early stages of writing the standard.

6. In a building’s lifecycle, operating costs are much greater than upfront capital construction costs. If operations costs are not contemplated in the standard, they will be sacrificed in order to meet the capital construction project requirements.
Consider life cycle performance of the building when developing standards, not just cost on opening day.

7. Standards are uniform, but projects are impacted by unpredictable variables. Geography, labour and materials, topography, site availability, risk management, and politics are factors that can put unexpected pressure on a standard.

8. Seeing is believing. When people can touch and feel what is in their future, they imagine fewer obstacles.
Run pilot projects within existing facilities.

For more information, visit our website’s Project Page.

LEED™ is a regular part of a large portion of the world of architectural design, with traditionally less representation in the world of healthcare architecture.

In this project, we focused on the LEED™ credits with the potential for the greatest impact on those living within. For example, including operable windows in what is traditionally a sealed environment, which means working closely with our Mechanical Engineers to ensure that appropriate humidity and temperature levels are not put at risk.

This project also included exterior rooftop gardens and decks in assorted sizes providing recreational and rehabilitation opportunities at many scales for the residents, visitors and staff, while encouraging closer connections with the natural world.

In addition to being lower maintenance and climate appropriate, landscape design for this project included native plants and other appropriate non-invasive varieties to contribute to familiar views for residents, improving health outcomes, and longer-term life-cycle cost benefits for the operator.

An Insulated Concrete Forming (ICF) system was chosen as a major structural component, allowing the building to take advantage of a high level of recycled content (fly ash) in the concrete mix and providing high thermal insulation values while acoustic comfort of residents was enhanced.

The LEED™ framework aligned with the team’s goal of choosing as many natural materials as possible in a healthcare setting to help reduce the institutional feel of the building and support biophilic design philosophies that a growing body of Evidence Based Design suggests enhance healing and well-being.

Congratulations to all involved with Ivany Place: Northwood at the Parks, in the Parks of Bedford West.

Client: Northwoodcare Inc.
Project Manager: Fairwyn Developments
LEED™ Consultant: Solterre Design

We were happy to have strong partners in our consultant team, client and project manager — all of whom put in the effort to ensure that points were counted and accounted for and followed through from concept to design to construction and after.

Congratulations to all involved with Ivey’s Terrace Nursing Home, in Trenton, and Shiretown Nursing Home, in Pictou.

Client: MacLeod Group Health Services Ltd.
Project Manager: Lampier & Associates Health Facilities Consultants Ltd.
Sustainability Consultant: Solterre Design

This is really profound and important work.

The dialysis component complements our significant portfolio of dialysis work. This is another special environment where so much can be done in the design of the spaces to impact the experience of those people who sit in dialysis chairs for hours on end, sometimes every day, in a positive way, making their experiences as comfortable and un-hospital like as possible.

Annapolis Valley Health is one of nine health districts in Nova Scotia providing programs and services to nearly 82,000 Nova Scotians in Annapolis and Kings Counties.

Planning Solutions by Design: Reuniting Healthcare Programming and Design

Hospital planning and programming can take years, often involving a number of incremental and much politicized steps. Common pitfalls may include an underestimation of the architectural impacts the programming and planning have on the project. This often includes the building site and without architectural visualization of concepts, awareness of the inputs users are making to the program may occur too late causing delays and inappropriate compromise. For a new 200 bed expansion, Capital Health (Halifax) and the Nova Scotia department of Health and Wellness recognized the pitfalls of this traditional “program first, then plan, then design” sequence and decided to combine them into a single 7 month fast-tracked, combined and simultaneous Programming/Planning/Schematic Design process. The result was a highly iterative and interactive approach that forced to the front of the room all major internal and external conflicts that the project needed to address.

For information on the International Union of Architects’ Public Health Group (UIA/PHG), click here.

For complete UIA/PHG Forum information, click here.

For more about the series of awards established by Nova Scotia’s Lieutenant Governors to recognize outstanding achievements of Nova Scotians, click here.

For more about the awards, as administered by the Provincial Association, click here.

For more about Brigadoon:
Brigadoon Website
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On June 24, 2013, all breast imaging moved to a new location at the IWK Health Centre in renovated space designed by Nycum.

We are delighted to be a part of the shared vision, giving patients the best care in one place – ensuring timely, integrated and coordinated breast health services and providing a patient-centered approach to care

See more information at:
The QEII Foundation
The IWK Foundation
Bust A Move Fundraiser

• Camp for children and youth who are blind or visually impaired
• Camp for children and youth receiving Atlantic Provinces Special Education Authority services
• BraveHeart Camp (Cardiology)
• Celiac Camp (A Canadian first!)
• Camp Treasure Chest (Asthma)
• Open Family Camp: for families with a child with a chronic illness, condition or special need.
• Camp Natawe’ige (Learning Disabilities)
• Kidney Camp
• Arthritis Camp
• Camp Goodtime (Cancer)
• Camp Guts and Glory (Crohn’s and Ulcerative Colitis)
• Down Syndrome Family Camp
• Brainchild Family Camp (Brain Tumours)
• Heart Talk (Cardiology)
• About Face (Teens with facial differences)
• Autism Family Camp

Brigadoon open for business
Brigadoon Website
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Brigadoon on Twitter