Concept aims to redefine long-term care: two-fold use of wood makes an esthetic and structural statement.

Gilbert Contant is one satisfied client.

As the chief executive officer of Huron Lodge, a residential care facility for the elderly in Elliot Lake, Contant is still amazed, more than four years after the building opened, at how the design fits into the landscape.

Built on a prominent rock outcrop in the centre of town, and surrounded by maple trees, the 29,440-square-foot lodge, designed by North Bay architect Paul Mitchell of Mitchell Associates architect inc., makes an esthetic and structural statement. Externally, it employs wood, particularly red cedar, and yellow brick to replicate the colours and textures of its setting. This two-fold use of wood is carried on in the interior.

The use of cedar as an accent extends to the sunshades, the shakes, the soffits and the siding, externally, and internally, to the ceilings and bulkheads. The dynamic entrance canopy is made of an engineered wood product called parallel strand lumber, stained to match the cedar.

"Were extremely pleased with the building. Paul set out to design a calming, warm, environmentally friendly place and that's what we got," says Contant.

Mitchell was equally complimentary:

"It is (Contant's) passion for this and the board's passion that made this a wonderful project," he says.

Huron Lodge was originally a domiciliary hostel in an old hotel. With the evolution in government policy concerning long-term care facilities, came the opportunity to build a lodge that was neither a hostel nor a nursing home -- in essence, a facility that would be able to help redefine long-term care.

Wood played a prominent role in that.

In viewing the architectural drawings in Mitchell's North Bay office, the deliberation is evident, not only in terms of visual appeal, but in terms of meeting the needs of the residents and pioneering new inner-space design.

The lodge is divided into pods, rather than being constructed as one large building. There is room for 36 residents in the three, 12-bed resident home areas. The concept was to create these three distinct clusters, with individual entrances, and then have a separate, multi-purpose centre to act as a gathering point. The walls and roof structure of Huron Lodge are made of wood, as are the exterior stud walls - similar to a house.

Wood is no longer considered a material for smaller buildings only.

"With the new engineered wood products, we are able to do longer spans," he says. There are other misconceptions about wood. Many people think of wood as being more of a fire hazard than steel, simply because wood is combustible and steel is not.

However, Mitchell says it comes as a surprise to a lot of people that architects and contractors put a lot of energy into fire protecting steel beams. He explains that at certain heat intensities, steel will "turn to rubber," while heavy timber will char on the surface, but take a long time to burn through.

"There are certain times in the (Ontario) building code where you have the same beam built out of wood and it requires no fire protection," he says.

So, it is not a matter of which is the safest building material, but a matter of whether the builder has adhered to the building code. There are particular requirements laid out for each building material in any given situation. It is those codes that level the playing field in terms of fire safety.

Mitchell, who incorporates wood into a lot of his design work, says, he likes to use wood as an "expression."

For that reason and many others, Mitchell says Huron Lodge, and in particular the Alzheimer unit, is "some of the most rewarding stuff I've done." It is a closed unit to minimize distractions, and features separate bedrooms with bathrooms that have privacy curtains instead of closed walls. It is important for those living with Alzheimer's to be able to see the bathroom. Residents have access to an enclosed garden as well as to small activity rooms.

"With Alzheimer's, they function better in small settings," he explains.

The lighting in the unit is indirect; the ceilings are made to uniformly reflect the light. Wood is used to help enhance the ambience. In this unit, as elsewhere, there are wooden hand and back rails. The architect used oiled white ash, rather than the usual steel, for the doorframes. The corner guards are also made of wood. Wheelchairs batter both, he observed. While dented metal can look bad, "10 years from now, dented ash, oiled, still looks fantastic."

Wood is also less expensive than steel. As such, the doors are of solid-core red oak. The doors to the outside are deliberately opaque.

"We don't show them places they can't go," he says.

However, the eating area, which is central to the life of any home is open so that the residents are always aware of what is going on.

The design maximizes the opportunity for residents to participate in the activity of the place through features such as a food-preparation area just outside the gated peninsula kitchen, and an on-unit laundry facility.

That same attention to resident need is carried on throughout the building. For instance, the windows in the activity centre deliberately face away from the residential area for optimum privacy. And it is not just Contant and Mitchell who feel happy with the results. Residents and visitors alike express their pleasure.

The building proudly flies in the face of the misconception that elderly people want to sit on a dock and watch the sun set; what they really want is the look and feel of home and community.

Wood helped do that.