"What would a seven-year-old think when they see this?" For B+H Architects' Patrick Fejér, the question is at the heart of the design process for SickKids Hospital's new Patient Support Centre (PSC). Set to begin construction by the end of the year, the 22-storey tower's updated design promises to create dynamic new workspaces for the renowned Toronto institution's employees, while giving the hospital a more transparent, welcoming, and subtly playful new public face. 

A rendering of the 22-storey Patient Care Centre, looking north. Image via B+H Architects / SickKids.

The new PSC is set to form the first phase of SickKids' ambitious 'Project Horizon', which also envisions an eventual transformation of patient care facilities via a second new tower on University Avenue. For now, the PSC is set to replace the McMaster Building — already being demolished at the corner of Elizabeth and Elm streets — replacing many of the functions within the hospital's ageing Gerrard and University wings, which date back to the 1960s and 1949 respectively.

The new design builds on the provisional massing plan revealed last March. Introducing texture, articulation and colour to what was a 22-storey shell, the design offers a friendlier addition to the quiet downtown corner. At street level, a transparent double-height space opens to a retail atrium and café space, anchored by a blue ribbon staircase and living wall. For employees, the hope is to create a more social place, inviting interaction and communality.

A view of the street level. Image via B+H Architects / SickKids.

From the street, the tower meets the eye in several volumes, breaking up the monotony — and monolith — of a glass box. Prominent yellow accents introduce a strong horizontal element, giving the building a more sunny and human-scaled frontage. Inside, a varied palette of colours and natural textures also attempts to invoke a sense of intimacy and welcome.

Although the building won't house patients, it's still "important for the hospital to feel like a welcoming space," says Fejér, with the lightness and transparency of the tower levels meant to create a similarly 'legible' and unimposing volume that demystifies the faceless (and scary) world of masks and corridors. Just look at the multi-coloured skybridge.

The PSC forms the first phase of SickKids' Project Horizon. Image via SickKids.

Targeting Tier 2 of the updated Toronto Green Standard, the design introduces prominent solar fins, which are used as an opportunity to inject another note of colour along the blue-glass facade. Terraced green roofs also serve a dual purpose, creating gathering spaces for employees while slightly mitigating the building's ecological impacts. Tentatively set to begin construction near the end of the year, the PSC targets a 2022 occupancy. 

While the interior programming continues to take shape, Fejér touts an ethos of flexibility and adaptation. "Spaces are no longer siloed," he says. Instead, B+H is "creating a fully integrated workplace for SickKids staff, one that blurs the lines between indoors and outdoors, health care, office, retail and urban design." Not a bad start. 

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