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

duper said:
^
That's exactly what I was thinking. Most of the article is concerned with parking.

Those poor sick children. Wherever will their parents park? Children will surely die as their parents circle the building, unable to find a space.

Weird.
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The article is useful, IMO. The impact of losing a nearby parking lot might be significant to some nearby businesses. It's a point which we might not have thought of, and is worth at least some mention.

Having said that, I would think anyone on this forum would be glad to see the larger picture here. The city is getting a high-profile research facility of the kind that helps make a city "great". In addition, as several have noted, this will really improve the streetscape on this part of Bay.
 
Currently, the research clusters in HSC occupy a substantial fraction of the hospital's floorspace. When these staff are moved to the new tower, does anyone know if the HSC plans on opening more clinical space, or will the research staff simply expand to fill it's new larger space?
 
The rendering appears to show a pedestrian bridge coming out of the west side of the building, connecting to the big Enwave block to the west. I always thought that was all a giant Enwave mechanical facility, but have never investigated that. Is it actually used for some hospital services? Or am I mixing up the directions of the rendering? Or was this pedestrian bridge just a fantasy of the designer?
 

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That clears things up in my mind, thanks.

I am optimistic that this facility will have a positive impact on the Victorian strip across the street. I'd like to see it evolve into something like Baldwin village, where a lot of hospital workers head out for lunch and snacks through the day.
It is already getting like that east of Bay. Could this street even be pedestrianized?
 
College Park said:
Currently, the research clusters in HSC occupy a substantial fraction of the hospital's floorspace. When these staff are moved to the new tower, does anyone know if the HSC plans on opening more clinical space, or will the research staff simply expand to fill it's new larger space?
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What we've heard is that research staff located in the main hospital building will be moving, but that those in the McMaster building connected by the bridge over Elizabeth St. will not be. The entire old portion of the hospital (Gerrard St. Wing, University Entrance, Elm Wing) is supposed to be demolished at some point after relocation, and presumably fundraising to replace it.

I don't know if this has been mentioned earlier, but a sample of the glazing for the new building has been attached above the entrance to the Allan Brown ("nightmare") building on Elm St.
 
arath said:
What we've heard is that research staff located in the main hospital building will be moving, but that those in the McMaster building connected by the bridge over Elizabeth St. will not be. The entire old portion of the hospital (Gerrard St. Wing, University Entrance, Elm Wing) is supposed to be demolished at some point after relocation, and presumably fundraising to replace it.

I don't know if this has been mentioned earlier, but a sample of the glazing for the new building has been attached above the entrance to the Allan Brown ("nightmare") building on Elm St.
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Wow, that is a big project. While the older wings are a warren of small rooms, and themed in green (ugh...), they're not horrible. However, the Elm frontage of the older wings is bad: a long blank wall, and in summer time, a Sahara. The trees on Elm have never been able to survive being cooked by heat radiating from that wall.
 
The timeline for demolition could be a decade as far as anyone knows, but the old wings are going at some point. The interior space can't be described as horrible, but many labs are really showing their age, with recurring ventilation, plumbing, and heat/AC issues. The unappealing green theme also extends to aqua, lemon-yellow, peach, and grey in the labs and in the various rooms inexplicably tucked into every corner of the old wings. Probably considered quite nice and modern at the time of construction, but not so much now.

That said, most (but not all) labs have nice big windows. There is also at least one intact send/recieve station (complete with directions on how to use it!) from an ancient pneumatic tube document delivery system that must served the Gerrard Wing at some point. And I've always liked the little glass tile mosaics of animals and birds set into the walls at intervals throughout certain hallways and near the elevators.
 
77 Elm doesn't look good from a lot of angles, but those are some interesting concrete motifs which Prii designed. The test cladding looks sophisticated for the new Sick Kids building.
 
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