Parkin Architects infuses sustainability to Western-style hospitals

Sustainability expertise is valuable in Asia, where governments are modernising medical infrastructure amid the increasing demand for quality health care, rising affluence and an expanding ageing population.

As the most experienced health care facility specialist in Canada, Parkin Architects understands how clinical spaces must work and reflects such processes in the interior design and architecture of hospital and laboratory settings. It is keen on contributing to the massive build-out of hospitals in China and elsewhere in Asia by sharing evidence-based design principles with the region's architects, contractors and foreign investors.

"We design from the inside out," says Harland Lindsay, Parkin's director. "Our solutions are based on intensive research on how the design will enhance patient outcomes and operation of the building. We can prove why they work."

Institutional spaces, such as acute care hospitals and research facilities, have been the firm's specialisation over the past 25 years of its 60-year history. Its project portfolio also includes corporate, education, justice, recreation and culture facilities.

The Canadian Blood Services' Toronto Blood Centre and the New Oakville Hospital in Oakville, Ontario, are among the many notable buildings designed by the firm. The Toronto Blood Centre was feted by the Building Owners and Managers Association of the Greater Toronto Area as the 2013 Building of the Year in the historical building category. The award is especially significant because 20 years have passed since Parkin redesigned the heritage site, restoring what had become an urban blight.

Meanwhile, the New Oakville Hospital, which spans 1.5 million square feet and is being built within 18 months, is a candidate for LEED Silver certification. This is but one of many Parkin projects that are adding to the success stories of Canada's public-private partnership programme.