It has been almost exactly five months since construction of a 17-storey addition to St. Michael's Hospital reached grade at the northeast corner of Queen and Victoria Streets. In the time since, the NORR Architects and Diamond Schmitt Architects-designed addition has risen eight storeys above Queen Street, and continues to impact its surroundings as it grows taller.

St. Michael's Hospital Patient Care Tower viewed from Yonge, image by Jack Landau

The fast-rising concrete structure will soon have its first panels of cladding installed. Recent photos of the site captured from the multilevel parking garage across Queen Street reveal stacks of glazing being stored on the ground floor in advance of their installation.

St. Michael's Hospital Patient Care Tower viewed from an adjacent parking garage, image by Edward Skira

A double-height lobby will front the corner of Queen and Victoria, featuring exposed concrete columns as a prominent design element. As construction proceeds around these exposed columns, they have been protected with temporary plywood coverings to protect them from damage. This lobby space will be connected to what has been described as a "pedestrian highway", which cuts through the entire hospital complex to improve the flow of patients and visitors. 

St. Michael's Hospital Patient Care Tower viewed from an adjacent parking garage, image by Edward Skira

The new 250,000 square foot addition—to be named the 'Peter Gilgan Patient Care Tower' in honour of the Mattamy Homes founder's $30 million donation to the project—will expand inpatient facilities for oncology, respirology, orthopaedic surgery, and intensive care units (ICUs) to treat coronary and medical-surgical patients. Five new modern operating rooms will also be included in the expansion.

Once the Peter Gilgan Patient Care Tower is complete, currently slated for 2017, the project will replace the century-old Shuter Street Wing of the hospital. It is expected to be demolished and replaced with a new three-storey Emergency wing occupying the corner at Bond Street.

Rendering of St. Michael's Hospital Patient Care Tower, image courtesy of St. Michael's Hospital

Additional information and renderings for the project can be found in our dataBase file, linked below. Want to get involved in the discussion? You can join in on the conversation in the associated Forum thread, or by leaving a comment in the space provided at the bottom of this page.