Mid-spring this year UrbanToronto was lucky enough to be invited to tour the SickKids Research and Learning Centre tower along with Duncan Higgins and Mike Szabo, architects at Diamond Schmitt, the designers of the eye-catching project. The building is so large we needed to present our tour in several articles, and as more parts of the building are completed there will be much more to see of this stand-out project on UrbanToronto.

We have seen much from inside the atria which run up the Bay Street side of the building. Today; a quick look at the atria from across the street in the office tower at 655 Bay. West-facing windows at 655 look into the SickKids tower, so workers there have had a good view of the atria in various stages of completion, and they should eventually be able to see the researchers and others who will work in the SickKids tower enjoying some time in these three-storey facilities aimed at fostering discussion and triggering innovation. Will they be green with envy at those enjoying the cool amenities across the street? Or maybe just green in the reflected glow of SickKids tower's multi-hued spandrel cladding.

Here's what the project looks like now, starting with a close-up:

An atrium at the SickKids Research and Learning Centre from 655 Bay Street, image by Craig White

The laser-cut steel braces shown above will eventually anchor the curving curtain windows of the atrium.

Atria at the SickKids Research and Learning Centre from 655 Bay Street, image by Craig White

Atria at the SickKids Research and Learning Centre from 655 Bay Street, image by Craig White

Moving down the building we see the completed glazing of the now enclosed lower atria. There are two shapes to the curves for the six atria, alternating as they rise up the building's Bay Street face. Stripes of spandrel on each atrium recall whitecaps on waves.

Atria at the SickKids Research and Learning Centre from 655 Bay Street, image by Craig White

The jutting roof of the multi-purpose room and lobby at the SickKids Research and Learning Centre, image by Craig White

There is still qute a bit to complete at the street level, as well as at the top of the tower. Large portions of the exterior on the building's other elevations also await either a basalt cladding or zinc. It will be another year before the tower is occupied, bringing together researchers from many other buildings in the surrounding area, and from some parts of the main SickKids hospital building itself. Toronto has become quite the medical research centre over the past decades as this project, multiple phases at MaRS, the Li Ka Shing Research Centre at St. Michael's Hospital, and many others have added to research space available in a city where Banting and Best discovered insulin in 1921.