Richard Kroeker

Pictou Landing Health Center

This building was designed as the community centre and main community health facility for the Mi'kmaq community of Pictou Landing, Nova Scotia. It contains clinics for doctors, dentists, and community health workers, as well as a community meeting space and public health education room. The building was constructed by members of the community, using local trees. It is heated and cooled using geothermal energy from a decommissioned municipal well. It uses 43% less energy than a conventional building of comparable size. It forms a protective south facing space around a medicine garden and medicine wheel that forms the physical centre of the community. The designers on the building were Richard Kroeker and Brian Lilley in collaboration with Peter Henry architects.