ST. PETER'S HOSPITAL INDIGENOUS HEALING SPACE

Two Row designed an Indigenous Ceremonial Space at St. Peter’s Hospital, creating a culturally grounded environment for Indigenous patients, families, and visitors to gather, reflect, and connect while receiving care.

Located within Hamilton Health Sciences’ St. Peter’s Hospital, the space forms part of a broader commitment to creating culturally safe and inclusive healthcare environments for Indigenous communities. St. Peter’s provides complex continuing care across palliative care, restorative rehabilitation, complex medical and behavioural programs, making spaces that support comfort, dignity, and holistic healing particularly meaningful.

Working within a constrained footprint, the design establishes a sense of intimacy and enclosure through a bespoke curved bench surrounded by a series of acoustic felt ribs. The sculptural elements create a spatial experience reminiscent of gathering within a traditional healing lodge, offering a place that feels protected, welcoming, and removed from the clinical environment beyond.

Natural forms, warm indirect lighting, and an earthy material palette work together to create a calm and contemplative atmosphere. Rather than treating cultural elements as applied decoration, the design integrates them into the architecture and millwork, allowing the space to communicate a sense of belonging, connection to land, and visibility of Indigenous culture.

Indigenous artwork by Sierra Barber is incorporated directly into the custom millwork, becoming a central visual element within the space. The millwork also conceals a fully equipped kitchenette, balancing the practical requirements of the space with the desire to maintain a warm and visually cohesive environment.

The ceremonial space reflects Hamilton Health Sciences’ ongoing work to create dedicated environments where Indigenous patients, families, and staff can gather, take respite, and participate in traditional healing and ceremonial practices. HHS has identified cultural safety as an important part of creating a more inclusive and equitable healthcare experience and has been working with Indigenous community representatives and organizations to develop healing spaces across its hospital sites.

Through materiality, form, artwork, and carefully considered lighting, the project creates a space that supports healing beyond the clinical. It provides an opportunity for Indigenous culture, ceremony, connection, and community to have a visible and meaningful presence within the healthcare environment.