Children’s Mental Healthcare Facilities
range of stimulation required for individual children with ASD. Even red – often cited as a colour to avoid – was incorporated in minimal amounts, and in tones that mitigate its vibrancy, to help test the theories around this colour for children with ASD.
LIGHTING AND PATTERNS Wall murals are primarily one or two colours and white rather to avoid the ‘noise’ of multiple colours. Natural lighting is extensive, yet able to be screened and filtered where necessary. Indirect lighting has dimmable features. Patterns in floors for measuring progress in gait assessment are visible, yet subdued. Exterior materials of wood, with green, blue, and soft orange hues for coloured aluminium panels and glass achieve a calming aesthetic, while still being playful.
THE TREEHOUSE AND MEMORY Memory is about the imprint that Erinoak leaves on these children, who may be served by EOK in their lives from birth to 19, and who often return to help others once they reach adulthood. We hope the Treehouse and ‘mini Treehouses’ leave lasting impressions – just as the treehouses of our own youth did. With a talented artist/architect as part of our team, we custom-designed artwork to delight, inspire, heal, create identity, and trigger memory. The graphics throughout the facilities are based on Canadian wildlife chosen for the characteristics these animals share with EOK children, such as the resilience and adaptability
of the polar bear for the Mississauga site, the arctic fox for the Brampton site, and the eastern moose for the Oakville site. A second grouping of animals (Canada geese, squirrels, and fish) provides the inspiration for cueing and triggering of memory throughout all three facilities.
SPACE TO ‘LEAVE THEIR MARK’ Memory is, however, also about the imprint the children can leave on Erinoak. Stantec created space throughout each facility for children to leave their mark. We located expanses of walls as exhibit space to showcase tiles that children can create though their arts and crafts programmes. We have ensured that children attending treatment and education services at EOK over the next 70 years can leave their mark without being short on space.
SUMMARY
Designing for children with ASD requires more than following a list of guiding principles. Successful design for ASD must recognise that each child is unique, while respecting what they have in common – that sensory processing is difficult, that reaching goals is uplifting, and that responding to challenges is exciting. All children with ASD interact – albeit to different degrees – with their physical environment, technology, or social groupings, depending on size. In designing for children with Autism Spectrum Disorder we respected the science behind existing research findings, but
About the author
Barbara Miszkiel, OAA, MRAIC, LEED AP, EDAC, is a senior principal leading Specialty Healthcare – including behavioural health, rehabilitation, long- term, and complex care – at the Toronto office of Stantec. A recipient of the Stantec Award for Design and Technical Excellence, her career spans projects in Canada, the US, and Denmark. She promotes the need to respect yet challenge research, best practice, and emerging trends, frequently addressing conferences in North America, Asia, and the Middle East, on design of enabling environments and socially responsible design in healthcare.
challenged theories where the design discussion is not complete. Together with the inspiration of ErinoakKids, we let a treehouse and the three guiding principles of Play, Achievement, and Memory, help us design purpose-built facilities for children with ASD, and when you design for children with ASD, children with a variety of challenges also benefit. So, what is the result? By 2017, more than 15,000 children annually will be using these purpose-built spaces to play, achieve, and leave a legacy, and our design team will have contributed to the evidence base and research into design for children with Autism Spectrum Disorder.
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