At the Mental Health and Substance Use Wellness Centre — the first completed phase of the Royal Columbian Hospital redevelopment in New Westminster, BC — Stantec’s design team built toward a simple goal: a psychiatric facility that doesn’t feel like one. Etched Coast Salish artwork wraps the entry glass, and the arrival sequence carries that same unhurried, non-institutional quality outside. Curved, backed Ogden benches, wall-mounted to poured concrete plinths, wrap the entry plaza in warm wood tone, giving visitors and staff a place to sit that reads more like a courtyard than a hospital forecourt. Just off the entry, a run of 720 Collection bike racks handles everyday arrivals without competing with the architecture. It’s a small footprint for Maglin on a $259-million project, but it’s the kind of detail that carries the building’s intent through to the sidewalk.