Alex & Jo Campbell Centre for Health and Wellness, Camosun College, Victoria
Stantec Architecture Ltd.
Photography: Michael Elkan Photography
Stantec Architecture Ltd.
Photography: Michael Elkan Photography
Camosun College provides health science education to 13 academic programs that were previously scattered throughout different buildings on campus, housed in aging and inflexible spaces not conducive to a collaborative work-centric teaching model at the core of the program’s pedagogy. To remedy this, the Alex & Jo Campbell Centre was built with an interior that integrates program-specific learning spaces with shared assets across different academic programs, such as: high fidelity simulation labs; flexible innovative labs; a home care living lab; a teaching clinic that also serves the public; and numerous informal and collaboration spaces, all enhanced with biophilic elements that draw from the area’s sub-tropical environment and vegetation.
For example: trees feature prominently, with Douglas fir motifs interspersed throughout at various scales, including live trees in the central atrium; the large exterior social stair sits beneath the wood soffit of the upper levels; an atrium feature wall design is inspired by the undulations and striations of the bark on a tree; a round cedar-clad and acoustically insulated Indigenous multi-purpose space; and a therapeutic garden is on the Level 3 terrace. Other sustainable design features take advantage of the mild climate both heating and cooling and promoting good air quality, all important parts of health and wellness.
