Shaping a new health home for Toronto’s Indigenous community

At a Glance

  • 45K

    Square Feet

  • 4

    Stories

Location
Toronto, Ontario
Offices
Client
  • Anishnawbe Health Toronto
Partners
  • Two Row Architect (Indigenous Arch)
  • Prism Partners (Client Advisor)
Podcast
Design Hive: Michael Moxam on culture and collaboration in healthcare design
Article
Listening to the land to design an urban Indigenous healthcare facility

Anishnawbe Health Toronto Indigenous Community Health Centre

Inspired by Indigenous cultural touchstones—the land, natural remedies, traditional healing, sunrise, woven patterns—Anishnawbe Health Toronto’s new Indigenous Community Health Centre (ICHC) aims to bring together health and support services to create a new health hub for Toronto’s Indigenous people.

Landscape is a primary driver for the site. Key programs on the ground floor—ceremonial space, traditional healer, and the community kitchen—are established as standalone pavilions inspired by pebbles in the stream of the Don River delta. The elevated central courtyard providing essential landscape access for the ICHC, conceals services and support spaces, and acts an amenity for the surrounding residential portion of the hub.

The traditional Indigenous woven shawl serves as the inspiration for the building cladding—the building exterior curves and folds like a shawl, offering comfort and care to its users. The shawl opens at the atrium letting in east light and providing dramatic views to the central landscape from each level. The red staircase was inspired by “the red road,” an Indigenous metaphor relating to making wise and spiritual choices in life.

The Anishnawbe Health Toronto Indigenous Community Health Centre will celebrate Indigenous culture and a connection to history, storytelling, and the land. This building will serve as a comforting healing home for Toronto’s Indigenous community.  

At a Glance

  • 45K

    Square Feet

  • 4

    Stories

Location
Toronto, Ontario
Offices
Client
  • Anishnawbe Health Toronto
Partners
  • Two Row Architect (Indigenous Arch)
  • Prism Partners (Client Advisor)
Podcast
Design Hive: Michael Moxam on culture and collaboration in healthcare design
Article
Listening to the land to design an urban Indigenous healthcare facility