The Children’s Treatment Centre of Chatham-Kent (CTC-CK) is a new facility offering outpatient rehabilitation, respite, recreation and other specialty services to local children and youth with physical, developmental and or communications challenges. This facility, situated on a 6-acres lot, will replace the CTC-CK existing home less than half its size. The newly expanded building programme includes a pool, gymnasium, therapy and treatment spaces, outdoor recreational and respite areas, along with administrative spaces.

The building is a one-storey structure clad in brick and terra-cotta block with a sloped roof condition in keeping with the local vernacular. Programme spaces are distributed across two parallel bars. The east bar houses almost exclusively therapeutic programme and treatment spaces while the west bar accommodates partnership, administration and support spaces. The bars are offset to accommodate, at one end, the arrivals court and main entrance, and at the other, an outdoor therapy space and playground. A warm wood canopy sits above the front entrance. Family- and community-directed programmes in both bars, including the EarlyON room, pool and gymnasium are clustered near the main entrance to facilitate access. The organization of spaces and the visibility key destinations are designed to draw interest and enhance wayfinding immediately upon entry. Particular attention was paid to the transition spaces between programme elements – their scale, sight lines, stimuli, sequencing, etc. – to help quell known anxiety in among children and their families.

The bars interconnect by way of a shared core. The core is conceived as the anchoring element in the plan and heart of the building. It is the main public access point and features an enclosed landscape courtyard. The courtyard is a quiet, contemplative space that works in complement with the bustling arrivals court and the playful, healing quality of the outdoor therapy space. Visual connections between the three outdoor spaces give the core a transparent quality: a place inside with the feel of being outside. The courtyard also creates a positive distraction in both the reception and waiting areas, invites daylight and natural ventilation into the building core, and contributes to a more intuitive building layout.

The building scheme responds to the latest evidence base in children’s treatment and health facilities design, supporting, among many things, telemedicine and a hybrid workforce, a collaborative care culture, simulation and other forms of skill building, sensory modulation and multi-sensory environments, healing arts programmes and integrated building installations, access to nature and high quality outdoor spaces, community integration and outreach. Plan and programme also support the CTC-CK’s holistic, team-based approach from diagnosis through treatment. Flexibility in the building’s structure, sections, and systems infrastructure will allow CTC-CK to recalibrate space easily and cost-effective to accommodate new and emerging trends and technologies in care over the building’s lifecycle.