Hamza Nasief

NEST

This thesis proposes a modular and decentralized clinic system designed to rethink how healthcare is delivered across Ontario. By shifting from large, overburdened institutions to a distributed network of adaptable care units embedded within local communities, the project explores how architecture can play an active role in improving accessibility, efficiency, and everyday patient experience.

“Across Canada, access to primary healthcare is becoming increasingly difficult: fewer residents are able to secure family physicians, hospitals are operating beyond capacity, and emergency room wait times have reached unprecedented levels. This thesis responds to these widespread pressures by proposing a strategy for implementing Modular Decentralized Clinics across Ontario. Designed to be stackable and easily adapted, NEST pods can be placed in multiple neighborhoods to spread out essential care instead of relying on a few overloaded centralized facilities. By investigating how modular clinics can be designed and integrated into dense urban contexts, this project examines how decentralized infrastructure could reduce ER congestion, divert non-urgent cases, and provide more consistent, accessible primary care for local communities. To accomplish this, the thesis develops flexible design guidelines, a site-selection methodology, and an implementation framework that together demonstrate the feasibility of NEST Pods as practical, scalable healthcare interventions. In a moment when many residents cannot find a doctor and healthcare professionals are experiencing rising burnout, this project aims to imagine a system where care is accessible, local, and resilient—and where distributed clinic design creates better opportunities and experiences for both providers and patients across Ontario.”