Rarely are you given the opportunity to create the environment and space in which you will carry out your work. And even more rarely are you partnered with someone who not only understands what you do on a practical level but connects with the meaning and significance of your work to ensure that your space quietly inspires what you do every day.
It was this very special coming together of Hospice Waterloo Region and NEO Architecture that created just such a unique opportunity in The Gies Family Centre.
We moved into our new home in 2020, hosting a virtual grand opening celebration in March 2021, and if you haven’t visited yet, there are some beautiful elements in our building that we’d love to tell you about.
In the Beginning
When we first met with our architect Laird Robertson of NEO and described to him the new building we hoped to create, he immediately began to seek out what we wanted to “feel” when in the space. He spoke with staff and volunteers and listened carefully to the distinctiveness of the work we do supporting and celebrating life. And then he created a building that would remind us every day of the importance of this work, without anyone even being consciously aware of it.
The Exterior
The first impression of the exterior of our building is that it looks like a barn, which was a deliberate homage to the farm that used to be on the property. But the exterior is also representative of the life journey. The building comes up from and settles low to the ground. It is clad in wood and core-ten steel that ages to a weathered patina, much as we all age, but is off-set by stone bringing to mind the permanence of the human spirit.
The Courtyard
When you enter the front door of the building, there is a large glass window looking into the central, open-air courtyard. The courtyard sits exactly at the centre of the building and is the heart of hospice. Here too cedar cladding and core-ten steel age and weather but sitting in the middle is the silo, which is our spiritual center. This round structure is clad in cryptomeria, a wood that has been preserved in an ancient Japanese process to ensure that, like the human spirit, it never ages.
The courtyard is a circular space representing the circle of life. The gardens are specially planted to have unique blooms throughout the year and there is a pond surrounding the silo that ripples in the open air and provides reflections of the sky in the summer. During the winter snow is captured and swirls in the air currents.
The Central Walkway
From the main lobby, a central walkway circles the courtyard and provides access to all parts of the building. This circular walk, which could be seen to represent the circle of life, connects the client program areas to the education and administration areas and to the residence. It reminds us each day of the inter-connectedness of our work and the full circle of life for those we are supporting.
Residence Lobby
The lobby of the residence has views into the courtyard and pond and holds the entrance into the silo. At the centre of the lobby is a large fireplace, visible from the central walkway, bringing the fourth life element of fire to the air, earth, and water elements of the courtyard. The fireplace is surrounded by the same stone that is on the exterior of the building. That stone flows from the outside walls into the building, through the lobby, and back out of the building again grounding us all in a sense of permanence and timelessness.
The Silo
The interior of the silo is the spiritual/ceremonial heart of hospice. This round room, 21 ft across and 21 ft high, is accessed from the residence lobby by a small “bridge” over the pond that places the silo inside of the courtyard. The interior is clad in wood and has a single window aligned to the summer solstice, the time of the changing of seasons and life. While the rest of the building has expansive windows bringing light and life into the building, this room is a quiet retreat space for internal reflection and contemplation.
Visitors to Hospice Waterloo Region will often comment on the large windows, natural light, and feeling of warmth when they first enter the building. And many note that there is something special about the space that they can’t quite define. It is these subtle design elements that represent our work and bring the meaning and inspiration to what we do every day that create that very special feeling.
About Hospice Waterloo Region
Since 1993, Hospice Waterloo Region (HWR) has been providing support for those with advanced illness.
Over the years, we have been able to expand the scope of our services substantially and now provide wrap around hospice palliative care and bereavement supports to individuals and their families in their own homes, in the community, and in our office locations which, for 10 years have included offices at the Langs Community Hub in Cambridge.
In 2021, HWR celebrated the grand opening of our newest location in Waterloo, The Gies Family Centre, where we are also able to offer hospice residence beds.
Our mandate from the very beginning, and for the past 32 years, has been to provide ALL of our services free of charge to the communities of Waterloo Region.