B+H and SickKids Chart New Horizons in Health Care
Toronto design and consulting firm chosen as design architect for integrated design of SickKids’ transformative new Patient Support Centre
B+H has been selected by The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) as the Design Architect and Prime Consultant for the hospital’s groundbreaking new Patient Support Centre (PSC).
The PSC is the first phase of Project Horizon – the SickKids campus redevelopment plan which aims to build an inspired, re-imagined hospital of the future. The PSC will house education, simulation and core administrative services in a modern, technology-enabled and sustainable building.
“This building will set a new precedent in workplace design to support integrated health-care delivery,” says Patrick Fejér, Project Lead and Senior Principal at B+H. “As one of the most highly-regarded paediatric health-care institutions in the world, SickKids requires a first-of-kind facility that embodies the institution’s commitment to excellence in care, research and education. The building will serve as a vessel for realizing SickKids’ preferred culture and its connection to community.”
Constructing the PSC is an important first step in building the hospital of the future; moving staff out of the oldest parts of the campus will allow SickKids to free up space and demolish aging buildings, clearing the way to build new facilities for clinical care. The PSC will also establish a critical link between clinical care, learning and discovery across the SickKids campus.
“To continue to deliver the high-quality, specialized care that SickKids is known for, our administrative functions that support the hospital also need to be at their best,” says Peter Goldthorpe, Vice-President, Transformation, SickKids. “By working with B+H, SickKids will pioneer the creation of a forward-thinking, efficient and sustainable building where bold, innovative spaces enable staff to excel at their work.”
The new tower, comprised of approximately 22 storeys, will be designed to create a state-of-the-art, inspiring workplace environment where staff are able to be at their best and support the operations of the hospital. Consistent with B+H’s longstanding commitment to sustainable design and SickKids’ Environmental Sustainability Performance initiatives, the building will target a minimum of LEED Gold Certification.
SickKids engaged B+H as advisors and business partners in undertaking design and development of the new PSC. B+H’s Center for Advance Strategy will lead a collaborative visioning and planning process with the SickKids team, engaging all levels of SickKids’ staff through facilitated workshops and tailored tools to generate insight and establish a shared vision for project success. The resulting roadmap will provide a set of guiding principles to inform decision-making and optimize design in support of capital investment, functional programming, and sustainability goals for the PSC.
B+H’s approach is data-driven and informed by scenario development, prototyping and testing to deliver future-flexible solutions. Their internal team will work closely with structural engineers from Entuitive, mechanical engineers from TMP, and electrical engineers from MBII.
The new PSC will be designed as a transformational catalyst for the way SickKids works, intended to nurture and empower the organization’s talent base by inspiring collaboration and innovation. The design will seek opportunities to facilitate chance encounters, bringing together colleagues from different disciplines and functions to encourage spontaneous dialogue and facilitate knowledge sharing.