Winner: Leisure and wellness interior of the year 2022. Hariri Pontarini Architects has designed the Barlo MS Centre in Toronto, Canada.

The goal of this project was to emphasise that design is an important part of a wellness strategy in a healthcare setting.

Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is a challenging disease with a complex spectrum of symptoms. The design of the Barlo MS Centre seeks to convey an understanding of these challenges and to provide practical solutions throughout the facility.

Recognising that patients are at the centre of their wellness journeys, the design is empowering, hopeful, and fundamentally life-affirming. This is realised through attention to every detail from furnishing and finishes to floorplan.

This highly customised space responds to the many challenges brought to bear on patients by this autoimmune disorder of the central nervous system. Architects and hospital staff toured MS facilities in North America and Europe, incorporating and improving upon many design features – where a thorough understanding of how the disease manifests a wide variety of often debilitating conditions informed design decisions throughout the process.

Judges comments: "We were impressed by the fusion of the spa and the medical facilities, introducing a wellness element into something that would not traditionally have such an emphasis. It is a more holistic approach to healthcare design, which is considerate to the mental aspects of healthcare environments."

Designer: Hariri Pontarini Architects

Project: Barlo MS Centre