National Urban Design Awards — 2010 Recipient | Royal Architectural Institute of Canada

National Urban Design Awards — 2010 Recipient

Life Sciences Complex, McGill University
Montréal
QC
Award Category: 
Urban Architecture

Diamond and Schmitt Architects, Provencher Roy + Associés Architectes, Architects in Joint Venture

The Life Sciences Complex is the largest expansion project in the history of McGill University. The landmark facility integrates existing buildings with two new, state-of-the-art facilities: the Francesco Bellini Life Sciences Building and the Rosalind and Morris Goodman Cancer Centre.
 
The seamless blending of new and old structures creates innovative spaces designed to encourage different disciplines to work more closely together in achieving scientific breakthroughs and developing new medical treatments.
 
Daylight-filled labs with views onto the city enhance the work environment while the scale of the complex preserves the historic and environmentally sensitive context on the slopes of Mount Royal. The project is currently seeking LEED Gold certification from the Canadian Green Building Council.

Jury Comment(s): 

“[This project] shoehorns an important building into a tight space, dealing well with the context of a massive grade change and the disparate scales and forms of the buildings around it.  This building provides a service core for the whole quadrant of the university; that’s not easy to do with that kind of programme.  It’s the last piece of a Chinese puzzle.”

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