René Goupil Infirmary

Pickering, Ontario

RENOVATION

HEALTHCARE

The René Goupil Infirmary in Pickering was built in 1979 to serve as a private retirement home for the religious community of men known as the Jesuits of Upper Canada. Over the decades, the infirmary has provided its residents with a continuum of care from respite and rehabilitation after surgery through to long term care and end-of-life palliative care. Those who live in the infirmary constitute a religious community of confreres and as such, the infirmary represents the “home” in which they live, pray, and socialize together..

Working closely with the Jesuit residents and their leadership team, Larkin Architect Limited developed a flooring design solution at René Goupil Infirmary that creatively solved the IPAC issues while giving tangible, meaningful expression to a Jesuit’s personal and communal faith journey. The design concept of the corridor was authored by the late Father Peter Larisey S.J., who sadly passed away during the pandemic and was never able to witness the completion of the project. Father Peter Larisey S.J. visualized these colours with their own distinctive meanings: Yellow is the Jesuit’s personal journey of faith, blue represents the Jesuit community that accompanies the individual and times when he found support for that journey within his Jesuit community, and the red circles represent moments of reflection and/or shift in direction during the journey. The large red circle in the lounge surrounded by the blue and yellow represents a coming together of the entire community to be in fellowship with each other both individually and collectively and finally, the white borders represent the context for the life journey to unfold. The resulting custom designed, multi-colored floor pattern provides a bright new circulation environment for the residents, assists in wayfinding, and mitigates the institutional mandate to provide the highest IPAC standards.

Photos by REA Construction