Post Partum RetreatCenter / Steveston Hwy 13571

Authors’ Comment

The postpartum retreat center aims to fill the gap in the medical system in Canada by providing an adequate place for new mothers, with all they might need. Due to the close proximity of the site to the Vancouver International Airport, creating opportunities for a larger outreach of the building, it is aimed to both serve the local and the national population. The center itself is defined as a traditional space between hospital care and healing at home which addresses recovery through 3 different functional layers of medical, social and restorative. The medical layer consists of following functions: medical and physical consultation offices, therapy rooms (group, couple and single), baby spas, lactation consultation rooms, physical therapy rooms and additional functions such as nurses quarters and sterile rooms and other functions that are needed in support. For the social layer, commercial areas for hosting, yoga/fitness studios, multi-purpose workshops are proposed. Lastly, the private part consists of 4 different types of accommodation rooms (larger as the length of stay goes up), from 1 week stay to 6 or more weeks. In addition, conversational therapy, physical therapy, common areas for staying mothers, nursery for babies, medical rooms for the mothers who may need it periodically and a private garden for each accommodation is provided.
Through a design featuring nature, light and materiality: the center remains accessible while being near the more natural fabric of the city. The concept of ‘hortus conclusus’ is referred to for the interior gardens, referring to existing precedents of sanatoriums and women’s shelters within older centuries. The structure itself follows a modular type that responds to each layer’s needs.
The second layer is the proposed public park that serves the intended purpose of healing through nature. It is proposed as a narrative for the garden of senses (sound, touch, smell, taste, color). This kind of garden takes up half of the plot (as also mandated by the regulation) and follows the proposed alleys. For each, one sense is targeted and this garden remains open to both the customers and the residents within accommodation. Greenery of evergreen nature is picked out for each place. A greenhouse is included both as an activity for the resident mothers and to be used in the kitchen located within the basement.