North York General
Hospital Wellness
Space Redesign
Transforming hospital spaces to support staff well-being, reduce burnout, and create room for care, not just treatment.
Company
North York General Hospital | OCAD University | Health Design Studio
Role:
Design Lead
Timeline:
Multi-institutional project | 6+ months | Co-creation with clinicians & health researchers
Challenge
Hospital staff were burnt out, emotionally drained, and physically exhausted, not just from workload, but from spaces that didn’t support recovery.
Wellness rooms were often repurposed storage closets with poor lighting, zero privacy, and little intention behind their use. They were “technically available,” but not psychologically or physically restorative.
Our challenge:
Redesign these spaces into true sanctuaries for recovery, grounded in trauma-informed design, environmental psychology, and staff co-creation.
Approach
We treated space not as an architectural afterthought, but as an intervention in the care system.
Through stakeholder interviews, observational research, and environmental audits, we uncovered deep mismatches between staff needs and spatial realities.
Our design process emphasized:
Sensory safety over sterile functionality
Belonging over blandness
Flexibility over furniture
We used co-design methods to uncover not just what staff wanted in wellness spaces, but what made them feel safe enough to breathe again.
