Redefining Seniors Care

Redefining Seniors Care

Baptist Housing, The Heights at Mt View

Healthcare

The Heights at Mt. View is part of a regional plan and partnership with the Island Health Authority, the Capital Regional Hospital District and Baptist Housing to replace obsolete residential care facilities in the Capital Region of Saanich and provide more care and housing options for the growing seniors population.

The 7-storey, 260-unit seniors residential care facility includes 220 suites designated for complex residential care/long-term care, and 40 Licensed Dementia Housing (Dementia/Memory Support) suites.

Location

Saanich, British Columbia

Square Feet

172,000

Completion date

2015

Project Component

Architecture services

Interior design and space planning 

Urban design and planning

The building is subject to a 27-year lease agreement with the care operator and ownership reverts to the CRHD at the end of the lease. The CRHD and IHA required the building to be planned to enable future adaptation to a sub-acute or acute healthcare facility. The project demonstrates the ability to successfully achieve a level of adaptability and a more resilient investment over the life of the building in addition to a continually evolving set of healthcare practices and requirements over time.

Walking paths are seen throughout the exterior courtyards, providing access to nature and outdoor activities.

The building program follows an innovative house/neighborhood model, with each floor making up a neighborhood of two, 20-bed houses. The design is highly standardized and flexible so that any house can easily become dedicated to specific resident groups, such as those with acquired brain injury, memory loss, or behavioral issues. As the needs of residents change over time, the environment equips the care team to provide increasing levels of acuity, as each house has a back-of-house service core that supports more complex care needs.

An open lobby that connects seating, lounge, multipurpose space, family room, and child’s play area, with a cafe kiosk as the central organizing feature.

As proponents of Evidence-Based Design (EBD), and facilitators of Lean-Design healthcare processes, the team explored a range of building and resident room configurations. The lessons learned from these design investigations allowed the team to implement many significant EBD elements that will improve the well-being of residents at greater levels of overall building efficiency than conventional residential care designs.

Individual rooms are fitted with lift tracks to accommodate safety and changes to residents’ mobility over time. 

Memory Boxes at resident room entryways aid in wayfinding and orient residents’ sense of place.

In 2015 The Heights at Mt. View was awarded the AIA Design for Aging, Special Recognition Award for its achievement of innovation and high quality design within the constraints of a publicly funded care model, acknowledging that the aspirations of innovation and quality outcomes can be achieved economically.