September 2010
Halcrow Yolles is providing full structural engineering and building envelope services for a new Research and Learning Tower for the SickKids Research Institute – one of North America’s largest hospital-based research institutes.
A groundbreaking ceremony was held for the important scientific research facility attached to the Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) in Toronto.
Targeting LEED Gold certification, it sets a benchmark for the field with its new Research and Learning Tower. Located in Toronto’s Discovery District, the 21-storey facility is the most ambitious capital redevelopment in the hospital’s 135-year history.
The tower will bring together the 2,000+ scientists and staff of the SickKids Research Institute in seven different ‘neighbourhoods’ connected by a ‘spine’ of interactive common space comprised of a three-storey atrium and a glass façade.
The design will encourage interdisciplinary research by locating scientists working on related issues in close proximity to one another. The bright, open common spaces will encourage informal networking and the exchange of ideas.