Dan Howarth

Canada's Ivy Studio has transformed a 1970s bank into a veterinary clinic for exotic animals in Laval, Quebec, featuring minimalist interiors and soft lighting. The Fauna clinic occupies a standalone structure completed in a brutalist style near the waterfront, just over the Prairies River northwest of Montreal. Consultation rooms at Fauna are offset from one another and fronted by sweeping walls Ivy Studio leaned into the building's existing style to inform the interiors, creating a calm, minimalist environment for the patients and their handlers. "By celebrating its historical shell, Fauna establishes a unique dialogue between imposing institutional architecture and the compassionate, soothing nature of veterinary care," the studio said. The staggered motif is also applied to the walnut reception counter The building spans 380 square metres over two levels, with the public areas and treatment facilities housed across the ground floor. Boasting 16-foot (4.9-metre) ceilings, the reception and waiting areas maximise natural light from the building's existing windows. The building's tall, coffered ceilings allow for dramatic architectural features The original concrete coffered ceiling is left exposed and painted a deep brown, contrasting concrete flooring and the warm grey of the textured plaster walls. Facing the waiting area, the four consultation rooms are arranged in an offset row through the centre of the plan. Fluted glass doors slide open to the consultation rooms Each is faced with a curved wall that sweeps up to the tall ceiling, mimicking the building's exterior, and is also denoted by vertical partitions with stepped end-profile