Brittni Romain
Brittni is a detail oriented and multidisciplinary designer with previous background in the healthcare field as a Registered Practical Nurse. She is passionate about sustainable design and the impact that design and the built environment has on humans beings and their behaviour. Brittni has a growing enthusiasm for residential, hospitality, and healthcare design. With a strong desire to have a positive impact on those around her, Brittni was inspired to develop the CareSupport Well-being Centre as her thesis project. The design focuses on developing a space for healthcare professionals to gain additional support where and how they need it! Brittni intends to continue to expand her knowledge and grow into her design career as their is always so much more to learn!
Project Overview
CareSupport is a proposed Well-being Centre located at 415 Eastern Avenue in Toronto’s Riverside neighbourhood. This project addresses the gaps in supporting the holistic well-being of healthcare professionals and is dedicated to supporting them. Through outreach opportunities and the design of a space with programming that addresses six dimensions of wellness - environmental, social, emotional, spiritual, physical, and mental/intellectual - the well-being centre aims to reduce the experience of stress and burnout of the individuals that give themselves to caring for others so that they too are well supported and cared for!
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Partis & Sketches.
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Materials Palette
Concept/Design Process
The conceptual approach for the CareSupport Well-being facility is to BRING THE OUTSIDE IN. Inspired by ‘shinrinyoku’ - also known as forest bathing - and the concept of Japanese wellness approach to preventative health care and healing. The idea behind the design concept of the well-being centre is that it will immerse its guests in a wellness experience to promote their health and well-being in a holistic way addressing mental, emotional, and physical health. This is achieved through creating spaces and moments throughout the facility that create a sensory experience and resemble forest like environments through architectural features, materials, textures, and sounds. The concept for this project is grounded in biophilic design and sustainability.
Site Plan/Floor Plan(s)
The CareSupport Well-being Centre consists of three floors of programmed space. The main level of the building focuses on supporting users social needs and fostering social connections. On this level is a flexible event room, used to host classes or events such as a painting class or a cocktail party. There are also interactive touch screens that keep space users informed of programming and events happening in the building while also supporting the CareSupport outreach program. Here, people in the community can volunteer to support healthcare professionals by assisting them with activities such as grocery shopping, meal prepping, cleaning, etc.
The basement level of the building focuses on physical health. Here is the flexible gym space that can be used for fitness classes such as yoga, or zumba, as well as an indoor garden and juice bar. The second floor of the building focuses on the mental health of users and is programmed with an open library, a group counselling room, individual counselling rooms, immersive snoezelen rooms, and isolation suites to support healthcare workers in their times of need.
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Ground Floor - Social Connection Focuses
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Basement Physical Health Focused
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Second Floor Mental Health Focused
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Event Space and Interactive Screen View from Refuge Seats
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Garden & Juice Bar View
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Group Counselling Room
3D Views
The renderings chosen showcase the multi-purpose event room, the basement garden and the second floor group counselling room. The following renderings showcase important aspects of the design through materials and the use biophilic design patterns and principals to create a calming and supportive environment for its users. Each room and aspect of the project was carefully designed to enhance user well-being on a holistic level.
Video/Poster
This poster provides a high level summary of CareSupport located at 415 Eastern Avenue. Included are floor plans, the project concept and renderings highlighting key areas in the space.
