Pictou Landing Health Centre – Nova Scotia

Becoming one of the key buildings Mi’kmaq First Nation fishing community in Nova Scotia, the Health Centre contains a clinic, consultation room, and a community meeting space.

The structure uses local spruce trees, shaped while green by members of the community. The use of material draws on the historic indigenous tradition of long house and lodge construction. Heating and cooling is provided using geothermal energy from a local decommissioned municipal well water system. This strategy, together with heat recovery ventilation, high levels of insulation, earth berm and mass heat storage have made the building operate at 43% higher energy efficiency than a conventional building of comparable size.