Located at Hôpital Fleurimont in Sherbrooke, the Mother-Child and Emergency Centre (Pavillon Enfant Soleil) reflects contemporary thinking about the evolution of care environments and about architecture's capacity to reconcile clinical requirements with the human experience. Long awaited in the Estrie region, this 34,500 m² expansion brings together emergency, child psychiatry, pediatrics, maternity and neonatology within modern, light-filled facilities that benefit both ambulatory care and inpatient services. The product of sustained collaboration, the project mobilized clinicians, professionals, managers, artists and patient partners around a shared goal: to design sensitive, sustainable and efficient spaces.
Working with the complexity of a dense clinical program
The project brings together five technically demanding units under one roof and in continuity with the care pathways of the existing building. The various services are positioned and stacked according to the nature and intensity of care, ensuring strong logistical and technical efficiency while also distinguishing inpatient areas from critical zones. Patients in recovery thus benefit from an environment more conducive to calm and healing. In addition, a dedicated ambulance access at the rear of the building now makes it possible to separate patient arrivals efficiently and safely.
The rooms, the vast majority of which are private, are spacious and properly support clinical work while preserving the privacy and well-being of patients and their loved ones. The facilities also include staff rest areas, spaces dedicated to teaching and research, family accommodation units and indoor parking.
Designing a healing environment
From the creation of Hôpital Fleurimont's new reception hall to the planning of specialized clinical units, every decision was carefully considered to ensure a functional, light-filled and caring environment. The integration of wood, colour, art and nature helps create soothing, welcoming spaces adapted to the needs of children, parents and staff.
Clear pathways, welcoming spaces for families and interior courtyards — one public and the other dedicated to child psychiatry — all support quality of life and therapeutic aims. The child psychiatry unit is fully integrated while having a separate entrance, which helps reduce the stigma associated with psychiatry and improve the experience of young patients. Staff benefit from ergonomic layouts and rest areas, while large openings at the ends of corridors provide natural light and views of the landscape, helping to reduce stress and facilitate orientation.
Architecture as a tool for dialogue between clinical requirements and the human experience
A wooden ribbon, like a protective bark, rises through the floors from the new main entrance hall, introducing a warm material into the hospital environment. Carving out generous visual openings up to the fourth and fifth levels, it establishes a dialogue between nature and care, opacity and transparency. Public spaces positioned near these vast openings encourage visual interaction and enrich the experience. On the pediatrics floor, a long sculptural wooden bench invites visitors to pause and reflect, offering various types of seating and a unique vantage point onto the suspended sculptural artwork by artist Marc Dulude.
In response to the density of the program and the logistical and functional complexity, the building's massing was developed as an assembly of blocks, allowing a clear reading of its components within a coherent, structured whole. Respectful of the built context while asserting a contemporary expression that will endure over time, the pavilion's architectural vocabulary evokes the materiality of the surrounding buildings — notably through the use of brick — while reflecting the natural landscape through its mirror-like surfaces.
A care journey enriched by art
With a concern for carefully integrating art into the architecture and the site, strategic locations were identified early in the design process to make art accessible to as many people as possible, but also to facilitate wayfinding within the hospital environment, contribute to humanizing the space and bring a sense of calm to users.
At the heart of the large openings between floors from the main entrance hall, the colourful sculptures by artist Marc Dulude are striking, spectacular, unifying, multigenerational and accessible to all. With its organic forms inspired by nature, Mouvance chromatique sparks wonder, invites contemplation and fosters an intuitive, sensory engagement with the space.
Evoking support and care, Accueil and Berceau, from José Luis Torres's Cohésion series, welcome staff, cyclists and public transit users to the south of the pavilion. The work's third component, Harmonie, calls for coexistence, exchange and dialogue in the public interior courtyard.
Orientation Cumulus, by Philippe Caron Lefebvre, marks the entrance to the child psychiatry unit. Inspired by the building-block composition of the architectural massing and by the Rorschach test, this playful assembly of four identical rounded volumes is open to free interpretation.
Playful and endearing, the eight sculptures of Karine Payette's work Prendre soin depict North American wildlife interacting with everyday objects. They accompany young patients along their journey, from public spaces through to clinical areas.
Sustainable facilities
The pavilion's architecture is based on design principles that promote performance, durability and quality of environment: the efficient organization of sectors and services according to the nature and intensity of care for optimal technical and functional performance; maximized natural light; respectful integration into the natural and built environment; construction details suited to climatic conditions; and the use of sustainable, local materials wherever possible.
The first large-scale specialized-care hospital project in Quebec to obtain LEED v4 certification, the Mother-Child and Emergency Centre also achieved the Silver level. Several strategies aim to limit the environmental footprint of the new construction and promote user well-being: siting on a former parking lot to preserve green spaces; direct access to the cycling network; ample indoor bicycle storage; electric-vehicle charging stations; water-efficient fixtures; diversion of construction waste from landfill; white and mineral roofs; "maintenance-free" landscaping that supports biodiversity; quality views of the surrounding natural landscape; high-efficiency filters and low-emission materials ensuring good air quality; and biophilic design — warm colours, wood and organic forms evoking nature.
In line with new building energy-performance standards, the pavilion is equipped with an intelligent, energy-efficient adaptive lighting system that combines motion sensors with the regulation of fixtures based on available natural light.
Client
Projet Manager: Société québécoise des infrastructures
Owner: Centre intégré universitaire de santé et de services sociaux de l'Estrie – Centre hospitalier universitaire de Sherbrooke
Key professional team
Architecture: Jodoin Lamarre Pratte + Yelle Maillé + Équipe A architectes in consortium
Head of the consortium: Gilles Maillé, Architect, Senior Partner, Yelle Maillé architectes
Project Manager: Michel Broz, Architect, Senior Partner, Jodoin Lamarre Pratte architectes
Assistant Project Manager and Head of Hospital Logistics: Martine Gévry, Architect, Senior Partner, Jodoin Lamarre Pratte architectes
Lead Designer: Karine Boisvert, Architect, Senior Partner, Yelle Maillé architectes
Co-designers responsible for volumetry, the building envelope, and public spaces: Antonio Camara, Architect, Director, Jodoin Lamarre Pratte architectes, and Gilles Maillé, Architect, Senior Partner, Yelle Maillé architectes
Co-Clinical Designers: Élise Lapierre and Nathalie Lapointe, Architects, Partners, Yelle Maillé architectes, and Carolyne Fournier, Technical Director, Jodoin Lamarre Pratte architectes
Head of Interior Design: Nathalie Lapointe, Architect, Partner, Yelle Maillé architectes
Construction Documents Manager: Nicolas Ranger, Architect, Senior Partner, Jodoin Lamarre Pratte architectes
BIM and LEED Certification Manager: Priscillia Champagne, Architect, Director, bS-QP-1, PA LEED C+CB, PA WELL, Jodoin Lamarre Pratte architectes
Site Supervision and Administration Manager: Martin Charland, Architect, Senior Partner, Équipe A
Senior Site Supervisor: Éric Marquis, Architect, Senior Partner, Équipe A
Landscape Architecture: BC2
Engineering: SDK et associés, CIMA+, BPA
On-site materials testing laboratory: Englobe
Contractor: Groupe TEQ
Signage: Bélanger Branding Design
Artworks
Marc Dulude
Mouvance chromatique
2026
Sculptural installation, aluminium, baked enamel
Atrium A: 3.6 x 8.8 x 1.8 m, atrium B: 12.6 x 5.7 x 2.6 m, atrium C: 8.2 x 4 x 2.1 mm
Karine Payette
Prendre soin
2026
Sculptures, aluminium, industrial paint
Penguins: 1.8 x 0.9 x 0.7 m, lynx: 2.2 x 0.6 x 0.6 m, fox: 1.5 x 0.8 x 0.7 m, raccoons: 1.3 x 0.9 x 0.6 m, polar bear cub: 1 x 0.8 x 0.4 m, owls: 1.3 x 0.6 x 0.6 m, arctic foxes: 0.9 x 0.6 x 0.5 m, she-wolf: 1.1 x 0.8 x 0.7 m
José Luis Torres
Cohésion
2025
Sculptures, aluminium, stainless steel, polyurethane paint
Accueil : 6 x 2.2 x 1.7 m, Berceau : 2.7 x 2.2 x 1.7 m, Harmonie : 4.4 x 2.2 x 1.7 m
Philippe Caron Lefebvre
Orientation Cumulus
2025
Sculpture, aluminium, baked enamel
6.8 x 1.3 x 1.6 m