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

Is it normal to install test cladding on another building like that? I don't think I've seen this done. They usually just put up a concrete structure and throw it on there.
 
The Bay-Adelaide Centre's test cladding was installed on a nearby building.

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Is it normal to install test cladding on another building like that? I don't think I've seen this done. They usually just put up a concrete structure and throw it on there.

What concrete structure? The building itself? I would think the developer would of had to make up his mind on what cladding long before then. Of course, it's quite common to see forumers refer to the first panels of cladding as a possible test cladding eventhough common sense suggests a developer wouldn't be anywhere near as fussy over a condo tower.
 
What concrete structure? The building itself? I would think the developer would of had to make up his mind on what cladding long before then. Of course, it's quite common to see forumers refer to the first panels of cladding as a possible test cladding eventhough common sense suggests a developer wouldn't be anywhere near as fussy over a condo tower.

Such as 18 York. They built a concrete cube, and installed the test cladding on that.
 
Groundbreaking ceremony is set for May 4th.

My guess is the motivation for installing a cladding panel on a SickKids'-owned building is so that staff know where it is and can get a more tangible idea of what the new structure will look like. The hospital is hoping to raise additional $$$ for the building from staff donations.
 
skelm2.jpg

Another look at the test cladding
skelm.jpg
 
From the Star: http://www.parentcentral.ca/parent/...reaks-ground-on-world-class-research-facility

Sick Kids breaks ground on world-class research facility

Megan Ogilvie

The world-class researchers of the Hospital for Sick Children will soon have a world-class space in which to make their discoveries.

On Tuesday, the hospital will break ground on its 21-storey Research & Learning Tower that will bring Sick Kids’ 2,000 researchers under one roof.

“At the moment they are spread across six city blocks in different buildings, yet we are in a time when science is all about collaboration and interaction,†said Janet Rossant, chief of research at Sick Kids.

“We have been working hard to develop a concept and a building where we can repatriate them all and bring them together so they can form new teams and make a difference.â€

The building, at the corner of Bay and Elm Sts., is designed to maximize interaction between scientists, whether they are in the lab or lounge.

The 17 floors of research space will feature an open lab environment to make it easier for scientists to meet with others outside their field. And the tower, designed by Toronto-based Diamond + Schmitt Architects Inc. with HDR Inc., also incorporates neighbourhoods that span two or three floors. Each will have common areas for researchers to meet for coffee, brainstorm ideas on whiteboards or gather to work on their laptops.

Rossant said chance interactions between scientists of different fields can lead to new ways of thinking.

“We will have the ability for a surgeon to cross paths with a computer scientist, a stem cell biologist to run into an asthma researcher,†she said.

The tower, scheduled to open in August 2013, will also house public space, including a 250-seat auditorium, tele-education facilities and learning labs.

“This will allow us to have the public see what goes on at Sick Kids,†Rossant said. “I don’t think people understand how important research is for the Hospital for Sick Children. It’s a major part of what we do and it’s what makes us special.â€

Two-thirds of Sick Kids’ 230 principal investigators are clinician-researchers, she said.

“They work with children and they understand the problems and they take those problems back to the lab and try to solve them. Now they’ll be able to solve them by working in teams.â€

The $400 million project will be funded by a $90 million grant from the Canadian Foundation for Innovation, the federal body that funds research infrastructure, and the Hospital for Sick Children and its foundation.
 
from the Globe:

The newest face in Toronto’s Discovery District – and, if its architects have their way, the future of medical research in Canada – is tall. And curvy. It’s punctuated by bulbous glass protrusions and stairways that snake their way around the outside of one of the country’s tallest medical research facilities.

Forget light-deprived scientists holed up in laboratory cubicles. The 21-storey Hospital for Sick Children’s research tower, which breaks ground Tuesday and is slated for completion in 2013, is planned around the idea of high-rise neighbourhoods – glass atria connecting multiple floors and inviting the curious to take a peek. A mass of glass (thermally sound, designers hasten to add) will put the thousands of researchers working in the building on display; open-concept designs for labs and meeting rooms aim to demystify the work going on inside.

Vertically oriented medical research facilities are rare in Canada, although they’re becoming increasingly common, especially in the United States, as institutions try to make the most of limited space. But sky-high laboratories don’t always come with a good reputation: They’re notorious for isolating researchers within their floors and discouraging interaction.

The challenge of squeezing Sick Kids’ 2,000 researchers and clinicians onto a single city block “was daunting,” says architect Don Schmitt of Diamond + Schmitt, “but ... within three or four days of first working on the project, the idea jelled around these vertical neighbourhoods.”

The idea is simple: Coax people out of research shells by creating common spaces linking different floors and research areas – “hanging gardens of interconnection between floors,” Mr. Schmitt calls them.

The bubble-like atria will push out from the building’s wall, turning the building into a visually accessible research aquarium and giving passers-by a glimpse into what’s going on.

This plays into Sick Kids’ push to underscore the vitally important medical research going on behind the scenes, said president and CEO Mary Jo Haddad.

“One of the biggest challenges is that people don’t often understand the underpinning of excellence and care. ...This’ll put a public face to research.”

Jean Mah, a hospital design expert with firm Perkins + Will, says vertically oriented research facilities are becoming more common: Space is at a premium, facilities get older and organizations expand. But even in the U.S., research skyscrapers average 10 to 20 storeys; only in hyper-dense New York do they get much taller.

The challenge, she said, is to bring the outdoors into a glass research lab in the sky.

These buildings are also notorious energy hogs: Whereas the average office tower will operate for about 10 hours a day, five days a week, many of these labs are in use far longer and are more demanding when it comes to air circulation, temperature and lighting.

But Mr. Schmitt’s team designed the tower with that in mind, he says, trying to make the building as energy-efficient as possible. In an attempt to achieve a LEED gold certification, they added material to the glass to help deflect unwanted solar rays and installed a system to harness the heat created by a building full of people and machines.

“If this is a success, it really is a kind of model for how you can make a great intellectual environment,” he says.
 
googling around, found this 'fly through' video.....

http://www.sickkidsfoundation.com/bepartofit/videos/videoflythrough.html

mixed emotions about this one....it's an important site, and an important facility, but it is more Diamond & Schmitt 1970's style dreck......definitely the most stodgy, most consistently disappointing firm working in the city today....a time warp to 1978....
 
Yea disappointing I agree, not much of a surprise given the context / what it's being built for.

The cladding will make or break the building though, it looks like it may be interesting enough to make it stand out and be something more then a boring / fat / box ... with some ugly ventilation / elevator shaft elements added on.
 
The following is the first of two Sick Kids' press releases on the occasion of the groundbreaking:

A Commitment to Healthier Children and a Better World
SickKids Foundation announces $500 million financing for 21-storey
Research & Learning Tower

Toronto – SickKids Foundation today launched the most ambitious and important fundraising
campaign in its history. The campaign to raise funds for the Research & Learning Tower of The
Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids), a 21-storey, 750,000 square foot Tower to be built at the
corner of Bay and Elm streets, underscores the critical importance of the community to the
Hospital’s leadership in children’s health research, education and care.

“The magnitude of this project will transform the community’s understanding of SickKids,” said
Ted Garrard, President & CEO, SickKids Foundation. “The Tower will ensure the stature of
SickKids as a world leader in children’s health research, education and care.”

The Research & Learning Tower is so fundamental to the continued and future success of
SickKids; a different approach has been taken to financing the project and 57.7 per cent of this
financing is complete.

In 2008, the Canada Foundation for Innovation awarded $75 million towards the construction
and fit-out of the Tower.

In December, the Hospital secured a $200 million bond that will be used to help finance the
construction of the Tower. The bond is to be paid back over 40 years and SickKids Foundation
has committed to cover the interest costs and to repay the debt through its future fundraising
efforts. The bond was fully subscribed, demonstrating the confidence of investors in SickKids.

“The community is a critical partner in this project,” said Garrard. “Our challenge is to bring
private funding to one of the most important capital projects in the history of SickKids.”

In addition, SickKids Foundation has committed to raise $200 million over the next three years
through a special fundraising campaign. A total of $100 million will be directed to the
construction costs of the Tower with $100 million directed to the creation of an endowment fund
which will support the ongoing operating costs of the building when it is completed in 2013.
This is in addition to what the Foundation grants to the Hospital each year for highest priority
needs. The $500 million financing is the combined cost of construction of the $400 million
Research & Learning Tower and the $100 million operating endowment fund.

SickKids also announced today that Tim Hockey, President and CEO of TD Canada Trust, has
been appointed Chair of The Tower Campaign and has formed a 35-member cabinet to raise
funds over the next three years.

“The team that has assembled to lead the Campaign is extraordinary – a very talented and
passionate group of people, who are motivated to get this Tower built,” said Hockey. “In a few
short months we have already raised $12.4 million in early commitments. This is a tremendous
start for the campaign and a clear indication that donors think that this project is vital for
SickKids.”

For more information on the Tower, please visit http://www.sickkidsfoundation.com/bepartofit/.

To view the fly-through video of the Research & Learning Tower, please visit
http://www.sickkidsfoundation.com/bepartofit/videos/videoflythrough.html.

About SickKids Foundation
Established in 1972, SickKids Foundation is the fundraising organization of The Hospital for
Sick Children (SickKids). The Foundation’s fundraising is driven by the belief that improving
the health and well-being of children is one of the most powerful ways to improve society.
Philanthropy is a critical source of funding for SickKids . Over the past five years, SickKids
Foundation has granted more than $300 million to the Hospital. A direct result of community
support, this is the largest investment in paediatric health care and one of the largest
contributions to a hospital anywhere in Canada.

- - - -

Along with the video link above, you might also like to see these renders of the project:

Looking northwest from Elm east of Bay:

SickKidsEveningExterior.jpg


Looking north on Bay across Elm:

SickKidsabout-1.jpg


The lobby:

SickKidslobby.jpg


A breakdown of the uses, floor by floor:

SickKidsrt-tower-desc.jpg


The auditorium:

SickKidsauditorium.jpg


A typical lab:

SickKidslab.jpg


One of the six atriums:

SickKidsatrium.jpg
 
Here is the second of Sick Kids' two press releases on the occasion of the groundbreaking for the research tower.

New Kid on the Block
SickKids announces the most ambitious capital redevelopment plan in its
135-year history

Toronto – The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) today announced the details of the $400
million, 21-storey, 750,000 square foot Research & Learning Tower to be built at the corner of
Bay and Elm Streets; bringing together the 2,000 scientists and staff of SickKids Research
Institute. The Tower is slated to be completed by 2013. Designed by Diamond and Schmitt
Architects Inc. with HDR Inc., the world-class facility will achieve LEED® Gold Certification –
setting the standard for energy efficiency and sustainable infrastructure in Toronto’s Discovery
District. The construction contract to build the Tower was awarded to Ellis Don Corporation.

For the first time, there will be a public face for SickKids Research Institute. The building will
showcase the incredible depth and breadth of research being conducted by the Hospital to
improve child health through prevention, better cures and early detection of childhood disease.

“We take our responsibility as a world leader in children’s health seriously,” said Mary Jo
Haddad, President and CEO, SickKids. “The Research & Learning Tower gives us the capacity
to build on our leadership in child health research, education and care, and will result in healthier
children and a better world.”

Established in 1954, SickKids Research Institute has grown into one of North America’s largest
hospital-based research institutes. It is an integral part of SickKids, with more than 2,000 of the
Hospital’s approximately 8,000 staff.

The ground-breaking ceremony was attended by the Honourable Gary Goodyear, Minister of
State for Science and Technology.

“Our government is investing in science and technology to improve the quality of life for
Canadians, strengthen the economy and create jobs,” said Minister Goodyear. “This investment
in the Research & Learning Tower will help ensure that Canada remains a world leader in health
research, and that we will continue to make discoveries that benefit children around the world.”



The Tower consolidates the research staff presently working in six different locations across the
city and enhances the opportunity for interactions between clinical and research colleagues. The
integration of research with patient care and learning are among the strengths of SickKids that
have resulted in many significant contributions to the understanding, treatment and prevention of
disease.

The Tower is designed to encourage interdisciplinary research by locating researchers working
on related issues in close proximity to one another. Researchers in the Tower will work in one of
seven “neighbourhoods” – each inspired by a cutting-edge research theme. Neighbourhoods will
span two to three floors and will be connected by a spine of interactive space conducive to
formal and informal meetings with the specific intent of encouraging interactions and
collaborations.

The open, flexible lab space is designed to accommodate diverse research needs that will evolve
over the lifetime of the building. A mixture of wet and dry research benches will provide space
for research teams as well as the state-of-the-art tools and technology they need to do their work.
Labs designed in this way have been shown to increase collaboration among researchers thereby
increasing the number of new ideas and discoveries they generate.

The Tower will provide important new learning and teaching facilities for SickKids Learning
Institute – including a 250-seat lecture theatre, flexible learning spaces and display areas. The
Learning Concourse will include state-of-the-art web and teleconferencing technology.

“Once complete, the Research & Learning Tower will significantly enhance the cutting-edge
research being done at SickKids,” said Dr. Eliot Phillipson, President and CEO for the Canada
Foundation for Innovation, who also attended the ground-breaking ceremony. “Bringing all
these world-class researchers together into a single facility will undeniably translate into results
that will benefit all Canadians.”

The Research & Learning Tower will lead to design, engineering and construction jobs;
innovations that lead to new equipment, the development of new drugs, new treatments and new
therapies, leading to patents, licensing rights, start-up companies and revenue. The Tower itself
will rejuvenate the corner of Bay and Elm Streets, turning a parking lot into an active retail
corner and community.

“Healthy children lead to a healthy and prosperous future for Canada,” said Haddad. “The
economic impact of this ambitious capital campaign will be immediate and sustained.”

Announced at today’s launch was a $200 million fundraising campaign to support the
construction and operation of the Tower. Tim Hockey, appointed Chair of The Tower
Campaign, along with Honorary Chairs Arthur and Sonia Labatt, were at today’s ceremony to
introduce the 35-member cabinet.

“The community is a critical partner in this project,” said Ted Garrard, President & CEO,
SickKids Foundation. “Our challenge is to bring private funding to one of the most important
capital projects in the history of SickKids.”
For more information on the Tower, please visit http://www.sickkidsfoundation.com/bepartofit/.

To view the fly-through video of the Research & Learning Tower, please visit
http://www.sickkidsfoundation.com/bepartofit/videos/videoflythrough.html.

About The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids)
The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) is recognized as one of the world’s foremost
paediatric health-care institutions and is Canada’s leading centre dedicated to advancing
children’s health through the integration of patient care, research and education. Founded in
1875 and affiliated with the University of Toronto, SickKids is one of Canada’s most research-
intensive hospitals and has generated discoveries that have helped children globally. Its mission
is to provide the best in complex and specialized family-centred care; pioneer scientific and
clinical advancements; share expertise; foster an academic environment that nurtures health-care
professionals; and champion an accessible, comprehensive and sustainable child health system.
SickKids is proud of its vision of Healthier Children. A Better World.™ For more information,
please visit www.sickkids.ca.

About SickKids Foundation
Established in 1972, SickKids Foundation is the fundraising organization of The Hospital for
Sick Children (SickKids). The Foundation’s fundraising is driven by the belief that improving
the health and well-being of children is one of the most powerful ways to improve society.
Philanthropy is a critical source of funding for SickKids. Over the past five years, SickKids
Foundation has granted more than $300 million to the Hospital. A direct result of community
support, this is the largest investment in paediatric health care and one of the largest
contributions to a hospital anywhere in Canada.
 

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