We end our tour of the SickKids Research and Learning Centre tower today with a visit to an area that most of the 2,000 people who will work in the building will never see: the mechanical penthouse, and the roof. Despite the lack of access to these areas once a building opens, they have been a staple of UrbanToronto tours ever since we were invited up the Ritz Carlton for our first hard-hat tour two years ago. Simply put, buildings don't finish 'til the top, so that's exactly how far our interest extends.

What we have found up at the top of buildings often differs more from building to building than what we find below on floors built for day-to-day living. What's up top in this case is very particular; as we mentioned in Part 1 of our tour, vast amounts of air have to be moved in this building. Beyond the requirements of typical ventilation, the labs in this medical reasearch facility require a robust air-handling system capable of responding to any contingency, and the equipment to handle 20 or so floors of that is huge. To fit that equipment, the ceiling height of the mechanical penthouse is 9 metres, or about 30 feet, high.

Construction hoist at the roof of the SickKids Research and Learning Centre, image by Craig White 2012.05.09

So that, above, is a 9-metre floor height. Same below, looking into the building. (Construction hoists: they just don't look like they should work somehow, but they are always an exciting ride.)

Mechanical penthouse of the SickKids Research and Learning Centre, image by Craig White 2012.05.09

Wandering about up there you begin to wish that the space could be used for spectacular function rooms with vast views over the city, even if the tower already has the terrific atriums we visited in Part 2. It would certainly make for ultimate bachelor pad… (Are you listening condo developers? We want 9-metre ceilings!) The space though, is meant to hold the air-handling units mentioned above. Here's one of many being installed, below.

Mechanical penthouse of the SickKids Research and Learning Centre, image by Craig White 2012.05.09

Let's just keep wandering about.

Mechanical penthouse of the SickKids Research and Learning Centre, image by Craig White 2012.05.09

Below, a temporary floor prevents us from falling down a shaft that will fill with air vents soon, while above the shaft continues through to the roof where we seen the cranes.

Mechanical penthouse of the SickKids Research and Learning Centre, image by Craig White 2012.05.09

So, into one of the staircases to make it up to the roof.

Mechanical penthouse of the SickKids Research and Learning Centre, image by Craig White 2012.05.09

And here we are, up close to the top of the chimney of the adjacent incinerator.

A crane atop the SickKids Research and Learning Centre, image by Craig White 2012.05.09

From up here we can look back down to the floor 9 metres below through one of the shafts…

Looking down into the mechanical penthouse at the SickKids Research and Learning Centre, image by Craig White 2012.05.09

…while spinning around gives us a view of both cranes up top.

Two cranes tower over the SickKids Research and Learning Centre, image by Craig White 2012.05.09

Here's that north view closer-up, with the Residences of College Park dominating the foreground, while Murano and Burano top the skyline in the middle ground. Lumiere is seen framed in charcoal gray.

View north from the SickKids Research and Learning Centre, image by Craig White 2012.05.09

Closer to Bay Street, this is our view north from the northeast corner.

View north from the SickKids Research and Learning Centre, image by Craig White 2012.05.09

Turning to the right we look towards Yonge Street and get a view of Canderel Stonridge's Aura under construction behind the Delta Chelsea Hotel, itself soon to be extensively renovated.

View of Aura from the SickKids Research and Learning Centre, image by Craig White 2012.05.09

We zero in on Aura.

View of Aura from the SickKids Research and Learning Centre, image by Craig White 2012.05.09

Down at the south end of the roof, this is our dramatic view of the city's finanical core.

View of the core from the SickKids Research and Learning Centre, image by Craig White 2012.05.09

So that's our visit! UrbanToronto thanks our hosts SickKids Hospital for allowing us to tour their amazing new tower, and our very affable escorts from Diamond Schmitt Architects, Public Relations director Paul French, and Architects Duncan Higgins and Mike Szabo for such a comprehensive and interesting look… and that's Mike and Duncan flanking your pesky UrbanToronto tour guide below, courtesy of Paul.

Mike Szabo and Duncan Higgins atop the SickKids Research and Learning Centre, image by Paul French 2012.05.09

Want to know more about the building? Our dataBase listing below has all of the renderings and lots of facts. If you want to get into the discussion of the building, the associated 

Related Companies:  Diamond Schmitt Architects, EllisDon, HDR