Primary Care Clinic

Primary Care Clinic: Calgary

This Primary Care client desired to consolidate several smaller clinics scatterd throughout the city into a single main location. The basis of inspiration and wayfinding was the Bow River, a significant natural landmark that has long served as a recognizable Calgary icon, a gathering place and a center of community activity. Flowing through the heart of the city, it is lined with extensive parklands, trails, and recreational areas fostering a vibrant community spirit though numerous festivals, concerts, and public events. The river stitches together many of the city’s diverse neighbourhoods and neighbours creating an organic relief through the gridded portions of the landscape encouraging community interaction and engagement.

The river and grided neighbourhood metaphor helped to organize an existing 20,000 square foot space where 2 structural grids met with an exterior curved glass wall. They serve as wayfinding via colour and texture for a linguistically diverse client base that can rely on colours and numbers instead of words to guide patients to the desired areas of the clinic. The idea of ‘parks’ informed the creation of areas of respite for staff for breaks, quiet paperwork or gathering for group learning.