Toronto Peter Gilgan Centre for Research and Learning | ?m | 21s | Sick Kids | Diamond Schmitt

At $533/sf - this building is anything but cheap
 
It's very possible that the finishes themselves do not look flashy or expensive; they have likely been selected to be cost-effective, and functional (sterile, easy to clean, easy to maintain and replace).

The overall building program of a research facility requires huge costs that are hidden to someone looking at a building for its finishes. The mechanical considerations involved (air cleanliness, etc.) drive up the cost, in addition to various other factors that admittedly I'm not very familiar with.
 
The machinery up in the mechanical penthouse is jaw-droppingly immense. The equipment they've got up there to evacuate air instantly in an emergency dwarfs any equipment of any kind I've ever seen in any other building. That should be on a Doors Open tour someday… but it never will be. The shots I got way back when on a hardhat tour of the building don't do the equipment justice.

Meanwhile, the walls of the atria are covered in Venetian plaster, with marble dust hand troweled into them, and hand polished. Not cheap.

42
 
Plus higher load requirements for the concrete structure, etc. I wouldn't be a bit surprised if they have glass (!!) piping as well (for corrosion resistance).

Beyond that, lab spaces uses materials that are spec-ed for utility and safety, not appearance per se.

AoD
 
Pic taken Oct 17 2013



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Great shot 42! (Sounds like the name for a secret agent, London has 007, we have 042!). I have to say, this is probably one of my favourite projects done in the city, but not sure why. Is it the curved glass in the front, or the open lobby space? Sometimes I just like a building for no particular reason other then it just strikes my fancy, this is of one of them. If anything, I should hate it, why you ask? It was about 3/4 built when I had the first of this round of GI surgeries (for Colitis and Colon Ca, first round was in early 90's). I remember, during my stay at Mount Sinai Hospital, staring out of my 14th floor window, watching the construction on this site, the new MARS tower, and Aura, in agony, so painful, words cannot describe it, and Morphine didn't even touch it. Sorry to say, I need another one in a few months, but at least I get to see completed towers, and I have to say, that hospital has some of the best skyline views in the downtown core. One room they put me in was a 16th floor south-west corner unit, man, what a million dollar view, especially at night, just wish I didn't have to have most of my bowel removed to get such an awesome view.....and speaking of which, have any of you ever been hospitalized there? I ask for a reason (sorry, off topic for this thread, but I'm curious). Every patient room has it's own private bathroom with a shower, looks much like a hotel room. I was later told by the housekeeper that Mount Sinai was originally designed to be residential, but somewhere along the way, while it was under construction, the developer went bankrupt, and in turn, the province decided to buy it and create a new downtown hospital. Problem is, is was almost finished, so as a result, the rooms resemble a hotel room, which is really nice considering most hospitals have shared bathrooms, and like one shower for each floor. My question to you....does anyone know anything about this? No offence to anyone, but the lady telling me this didn't quite seem to know what she was saying, and try as I may, I can't find a damn thing on line about it.:confused:
 
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