Projets / Matimekush Dispensary
The dispensary project aims to create a contemporary healthcare facility rooted in its community and designed to meet both present and future needs. Built on the site of the former hospital, it restores coherence and purpose to a place that remains essential to the community.
Healthcare Centre — A Grounded and Structuring Place
The dispensary project for the Innu Nation of Matimekush–Lac-John is part of a structuring intervention: the creation of a contemporary healthcare facility rooted in its territory, capable of addressing present-day realities while anticipating future needs. Built on the site of the former hospital, the project restores both functional and symbolic coherence to a space that is essential to the community.
The spatial organization is based on a clear and intuitive understanding of circulation and user pathways. The proximity between functions — care, observation, and community services — promotes operational efficiency while improving the user experience. Every space is designed to support comfort, safety, and the dignity of individuals.
The project is being developed within a demanding context, marked by the coordination of multiple areas of expertise and the integration of specialized equipment. Particular attention has been given to planning and the management of technical requirements in order to ensure the project’s coherence and reduce uncertainties.
The design intent is grounded in an architecture of meaning, where functional performance and human quality are carefully balanced. The design choices aim to create durable, adaptable environments rooted in their context, in keeping with STGM’s vision: Built Well — Live Better.
Supporting Presence and Everyday Life
Complementing the dispensary, residential units are integrated into the project to accommodate travelling nursing staff. Their role is essential: supporting the continuous presence of healthcare professionals while providing living conditions adapted to the realities of the North.
The units — studios and one-bedroom apartments — are conceived as genuine living environments. Their organization emphasizes simplicity, functionality, and a calming atmosphere, enhanced by generous natural light and a warm material palette inspired by the surrounding territory.
The main challenge lies in balancing compactness, comfort, and durability. The spaces are optimized to meet everyday needs while also providing environments conducive to rest and recovery.
In continuity with the dispensary, the residences form part of a coherent whole where living and working are integrated within the same logic. They contribute to the site’s attractiveness and to the quality of services provided by offering a concrete response to both human and territorial realities.
A Sensitive Interior Experience
The interior design is based on a sensitive approach inspired by the northern landscape. This “interior landscapography” translates, through materials and colours, a dialogue between the strength of the territory and the quality of care.
The spaces are organized around a structuring central core that facilitates orientation and fluid movement. The hierarchy of zones is reinforced through the coherent use of colour and materiality, contributing to the legibility of the spaces and to users’ sense of calm.
The choice of materials serves a dual objective: performance and atmosphere. Durable surfaces, restrained textures, and the presence of wood help reconcile robustness, ease of maintenance, and perceptible warmth.
Attention to detail — integrated furniture, ceiling treatments, and the incorporation of artworks — helps humanize the spaces, particularly in sensitive areas such as end-of-life rooms.
Underlying the entire project are principles of sustainability: longevity, adaptability, and coherence. Every element contributes to creating a healthcare environment that is at once functional, humane, and deeply rooted in its context.