We love entering in architecture competitions as a studio. It takes us out of daily grind and brings us into a world of imagination. Last year we entered into a design competition for a Children’s Hospice. Being the Architect of Record for Darling Home for Kids, a children’s hospice for terminally, we always love an opportunity to flex our creative minds and think outside the box in healthcare and wellness design.

River Runs Through is a wonderland of emotional solace, curiosity, and escape. Located on an existing quarry in the Windsor area in Ontario, the project comprises an extensive site restoration that will give large-scale respite to families and friends, and symbiotically bring new opportunities for the surrounding wildlife. It is a surreal, playful and dream-like space that fosters a continuous sense of wonder; a whimsical place that goes against the traditional look and feel of a medical facility, stimulating the imagination and facilitating emotional healing for both parents and children. With only three children’s hospices in Ontario and three in Detroit servicing all ages, River Runs Through will help to provide support to the surrounding Windsor area while being a bridge for both Canadian and American children needing end of life care.

Each program within the children’s hospice conveys a different essence, using playful colours and objects, scale, texture, and light. Nature consistently grows and pierces its way through the hospice, effectively creating a playground for new memories that blurs the threshold between outside and inside.

Carving through the quarry and serving as a common thread between the experiences, a river runs from one end of the hospice to the other, gently guiding visitors to the many spaces that seem to magically emerge with wonder and delight, while also providing opportunities to interact with the water. The curving ceiling mimics the ripples of the river, reinforcing the notion of constant flow and movement throughout, and allowing the sunlight to playfully pierce the inside spaces. The building is partially immersed in the restored quarry landscape, allowing visitors to stroll over top of the building and creating “peek-a-boo” moments between spaces within and spaces above.

River Runs Through is a place where children, families and caregivers alike can enjoy a moment of reprieve from their day-to-day adversities, creating lasting memories that are uninfluenced by the “real” world.