Western Memorial Regional Hospital

Western Memorial Regional Hospital reimagines care with colour-led way finding and geothermal energy.

A 600,000 sq ft regional hospital combining colour-led wayfinding, daylight and warm materials with advanced clinical services and a landmark closed-loop geothermal system to elevate patient care and staff efficiency.

Western Memorial Regional Hospital replaces an outdated facility with a 600,000 sq ft, fully modern regional centre serving more than 80,000 residents. The objective was clear: orchestrate a welcoming, human-centred interior that supports clinical excellence, simplifies wayfinding and promotes wellbeing for patients, staff and visitors.

Parkin Architects with B+H Architects engineered a colour-led strategy that assigns a distinct hue and nature-inflected identity to each public floor, aiding orientation and reducing anxiety. Daylight, generous seating along corridors and warm yet IPAC-compliant finishes—wood-look millwork, phenolic wall protection, acoustic treatments and resilient flooring—create calm, durable spaces throughout. A top-floor mental health unit brings private, light-filled rooms and secure landscaped terraces, a restorative amenity. Sustainability anchors the project, with Canada's largest hospital geothermal system and North America's largest closed-loop installation enabling fossil-fuel-free heating and cooling, achieving LEED Silver.

The result is an intuitive, efficient environment that elevates patient dignity and staff workflow across emergency, cancer care, surgery and more. Delivered on time and budget, operations commenced in June 2024. Judges highlighted its user-centric planning, effective circulation and the pairing of human-centred interiors with sustainability; some noted the conventional ceiling lighting and suggested more restraint in colour application and attention to reception DDA detailing would enhance longevity. Overall, the project sets a confident benchmark for regional healthcare design in Atlantic Canada.

The judges said: “The hospital pairs human-centered interiors with sustainability. Its color-coded wayfinding, natural light, and warm materials create a contemporary and uplifting patient experience within a vast program.”