The Perley and Rideau Veterans’ Health Centre Seniors' Village
Ottawa, Ontario
The Perley and Rideau Veterans’ Health Centre
Our team collaborated with Perley Rideau staff and Users' groups to deliver the Programming document for the Health Centre and Seniors' Supportive Housing Project. Following the Programming initiative, full Architectural Services are being provided for the realization of the project.
The Seniors’ Supportive Housing and Village Project creates the foundation for the development of an innovative continuum of care community in Ottawa Central/Ottawa East. The vision for the Village at The Perley and Rideau Veterans’ Health Centre (Perley Rideau) is to create new seniors’ accommodation and service options. The new Village will thereby address the dearth of general community amenities and support services available to all seniors including military veterans and those from varied ethno-cultural groups.
The Village concept rests on the ‘Affordable Supportive Housing for Seniors Framework’ developed by the United Way and City of Ottawa (2007). This framework provided a valuable reference as it identifies the key considerations in meeting the needs of seniors living at risk; the Seniors’ Supportive Housing and Village Project responded to these considerations. As such, it incorporates various forms of housing as well as the benefits of strong informal social networks and access to the full scope of formal services along the healthcare continuum.
With the existing Veterans’ Health Centre at the core of the Village, Perley Rideau will expand its current mandate to provide supportive housing services to eligible seniors living in its new 139-unit seniors’ apartment complex and the surrounding neighbourhoods. In addition to these aforementioned components, the Village will also accommodate a myriad of community amenities and services that will support the Healthy Aging Program. Through the new Healthy Aging Centre, seniors living in the Village and in the surrounding neighbourhoods will have access to services that: promote health and prevent illness, disease and injury; optimize mental and physical function; manage chronic disease; and encourage full engagement in life.
The focus of the Village amenities and services is geared to seniors. Certain key components of the ‘Village Commons” such as the Satellite Community Health Centre and the fitness component of the Healthy Aging Centre will be operated by partners of Perley Rideau. The Village will also accommodate community support service satellite agency and/or professional offices as well as retail and commercial spaces. Some of these services, retail and commercial partners will afford seniors new volunteer or employment opportunities. The specific partnerships and design details associated with these services are currently under development.
This purpose built seniors’ apartment complex principally consists of two buildings. The “A” Building, being a five-storey structure located immediately adjacent to the existing facilities Core Building. Located within this structure, on the first and second floors, is the Village Commons Component. Ninety-four apartment units are also distributed throughout the building proper, 40 of which are within the Cohousing Cluster Module, the balance of units are a combination of one and two bedroom units of varying size and layout. The larger units incorporate dens. The “B” Building is a free-standing building located at the front of the property. This three-storey structure is more residential in design to integrate with the existing residential streetscape. Forty-five apartment units are distributed evenly over the three residential floors and generally consists of one- and two-bedroom units. Both (“A” and “B”) structures incorporate partial basements for apartment support spaces and residential storage lockers. Additionally, the bulk of the mechanical and electrical systems are also located within the basements. Elevators are provided within both structures as well as social gathering spaces on each floor. The mechanical system, for energy efficiency, incorporates a ground-source geothermal well system to extract energy from the subsurface and to provide the bulk of the heating and cooling to the units.
Architect: Edward J. Cuhaci and Associates Architects Inc. in association with MMMC Inc. Architects
