The 9,000 square foot Gabriola Community Health Centre comprises a three-area Urgent Care Facility, comprehensive clinic space for three doctors, a nurses’ station, patient waiting areas, and reception. As well, the lower level was designed to accommodate revenue generating professionals such as LifeLabs®, Vancouver Island Health Authority’s Home and Community Care office, as well as future expansion space.
This community-owned facility boasts post-disaster operating standards and includes a diesel pump to operate its fires suppression system and three cisterns representing water catchement for fire, irrigation, and finally potable. As well, a lighted Helipad stands ready for an emergency, and a 60kW generator ensures building power during an outage.
As Architect and Design Consultant for this monumental community vision, we collaborated on a project that was a true example of the whole being much greater than the sum of its parts.
Project Details
Project Type
Medical
Style
West Coast Institutional
Square Footage
9,000 (approx.)
Exterior Features
- siting takes advantage of natural slope
- helicopter landing pad
- locally milled Douglas Fir post and beams
Interior Features
- comprises multiple examination rooms including ECG and Eye Room
- Urgent Care
- Nursing Station
- lower floor houses revenue generating professional services
- three part water catchement system that provides fire suppression, irrigation, and potable water
Challenges
- community driven and managed
- volunteer labour to build
- both of the above challenges became assets
- multi-disciplined needs