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

I like it. Wasn't sure at first about the glass, but it turned out well. Good addition to the city.
 
the amount of research facilities this and MaRs 2 are adding to this city is insane. It adds a ton of very high paying jobs, and will not only be a good addition to the city, but to the economy as well.
 
innsertnamehere said:
the amount of research facilities this and MaRs 2 are adding to this city is insane. It adds a ton of very high paying jobs, and will not only be a good addition to the city, but to the economy as well.
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Not to mention the valuable research conducted in buildings like this. Sure it adds jobs, sure it looks great, but the medical advances that are discovered in facilities like SKHRB and MaRs are mindblowing. One days work in both of those buildings does more good for Toronto and the world than every condo built over the last decade combined.
 
innsertnamehere said:
the amount of research facilities this and MaRs 2 are adding to this city is insane. It adds a ton of very high paying jobs, and will not only be a good addition to the city, but to the economy as well.
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I can't speak to private companies at MaRS, but having worked in research at Sick Kids, I can say that there aren't a "ton of very high paying jobs". Most of the workers in research labs are graduate students ($25-30k p.a.) and post-doctoral researchers ($40-$45k p.a.). Lab techs get $30-65k. The PIs (Principal Investigators, i.e. the Scientists who run the labs) do get paid well but I doubt you'll see a huge hiring binge. Research at universities/hospitals (Sick Kids is affiliated with UofT and the PIs are all cross-appointed to UofT) is built on bulging pyramid with a large number of relatively poorly paid (and highly educated) people performing the research that keeps the labs running and churning out papers that allow the PIs to apply for and try to win grants. The research is important; the desire of the the trainees is there. The reality is there are far more PhDs graduated than will ever get jobs as PIs. (rant over)

But I love the look of the building. And I agree that the research facilities here, at MaRS 2 (and the relatively recently completed facilities at St Mikes and other places) are very important. And they will be good for the economy. Just not as much as you might think.
 
Ditto to PL1. These new facilities are nice to work in, the work itself is interesting, but a good fraction of workers are everlasting "trainees". The research building can be viewed as a glittering feudal castle. I don't personally support a further expansion of academic research.

I much prefer that future public investment be made in MaRS-type systems - providing space for spinouts and small enterprise, given that pay is better, you're protected by labour law, you can collect EI between positions, you're contributing to CPP, and opportunity for career and business expansion are more available or possible.
 
Except that MaRS doesn't seem to contribute much in the way of new knowledge. Can you name any major Nature/Science-type papers that have come out of MaRS?
 
These "research" institutions are actually a black hole for government money. The jobs they create are mostly minimum wage research assistant jobs for overqualified graduates and much of the research is simply copied from already proven theories. the only economic benefit is the construction jobs from building these sacred cows.
 
rpeters said:
and much of the research is simply copied from already proven theories. the only economic benefit is the construction jobs from building these sacred cows.
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That's blatently untrue. Science is all about building on prior knowledge but there is no "copying". Grant funding is creeping downwards and there isn't a chance in hell you'll get funded if you're copying previous work.

I'll agree about taking advantage of graduate students though. The university actively recruits as many as it can because they are a cash-cow (tuition payments coming out of their stipend, funded by grants) and it results in higher publication numbers which boosts "presteige". Employment for them upon graduation is an afterthought.

ANYWAYS, still a great contribution to the city.
 
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Great shots indeed. The milky fritted patterns on this building were very successful. I'm always curious to see how such glazing treatments turn out when they look so great in a rendering, but this building lived up to those expectations.

The real plus, however, is having a different sort of use (lab/research space) along this stretch.
 
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