The MUHC (McGill University Health Centre) is one of the world’s foremost academic health centres. The new hospital, opening in April 2015 at the Glen site, is the redevelopment project that will create leading-edge facilities in three sites. Havre was completed in November 2014, the largest of eleven public art commissions spread throughout the new MUHC hospital complex and the largest commission of the Quebec government’s Integration of art to architecture 1% policy realized to date. Sited on the entranceway grounds the objectives included being highly visible to road traffic and to commuters in the nearby trains, drawing people into the landscaped site with its many public gardens, and becoming an iconic symbol for the hospital. While scaled to the immensity of the site Havre also retains a more intimate experience. Conveyed as a “sculptural embrace” it welcomes patients, visitors, staff and passers-by into the artwork through three "doors", offering a personal experience. During the day natural light projects patterns of shadows through the artwork, transforming with the hours, days and seasons. During evening hours three sequences each thirty minutes long bathe the artwork in subtle shades of blue / blue-green, colours that evoke both air (sky) and water, elements essential to life.
