WINNER OF A 2023 CANADIAN ARCHITECT AWARD OF EXCELLENCE
This sensitively inserted addition and the adaptive reuse of these historic institutional buildings is superbly done. Without compromising the integrity of the historic buildings or overly downplaying the new addition, the old buildings become much more accessible and will be given a new life. Brought much closer to the public street, the new entrance is immediately welcoming and brings you into a series of sunlit and generous volumes, despite being largely underground. — Michael Heeney, juror
A brilliant interwoven intervention to the existing campus building which delicately weaves light, texture and material innovation. The overall composition is a masterful palette of natural light, material innovation, sustainable approaches and Indigenous knowledge. – Omar Gandhi, juror
A convincing argument for why using buildings that have outlived their original roles is the value-case of our time, demonstrating why architecture matters. Universal access is made manifest and this forbidding hilly courtyard made newly accessible in this design, which simultaneously brings natural light into the below-grade portions of the project. — Claire Weisz, juror
For over a century, the former Royal Victoria Hospital has been a place of healing the body and mind. Now, McGill University is embarking on a reinvention of the historic site as a place for helping to heal the planet as well. The principal grounds and heritage buildings of the former hospital will transform into one of the world’s leading centres for teaching, research, and innovation, with an explicit focus on sustainability.
This site occupies a special place in the physical, social, and cultural history of Montreal: first as a meeting place of Indigenous peoples, and subsequently the site of the hospital. The original complex was comprised of a series of architectural pavilions set in a 19th-century landscape, shaped and sympathetic to the dominant sloping topography of the area. Over the years, large new neighbouring buildings and ad-hoc additions obscured the clear circulation and abundant light of the 19th-century hospital. The architecture of The New Vic re-establishes this clarity, beginning with the removal of buildings and additions, to restore the site’s historic connections to Mount Royal.
In the new architecture, terraced volumes follow the sloping topography and provide lookouts to the city beyond. The cascading roofscapes of the new wings extend the landscape of Mount Royal into an active space for research and gathering. The design team introduces a new pavilion within the historic forecourt, shaped by the three primary heritage buildings. Visible at the forefront of the site, this entry pavilion signals the renewal and reinvention of the Royal Vic as part of the wider McGill community.
The new architecture is held back from the old, separated by internal courtyards and atriums usually programmed as gathering spaces. Here, new skylights emphasize these voids and bring light deep into the interior, illuminating the richly textured heritage stonework, with bridges connecting the two. A pair of large skylit atriums also defines the major crossroads within the new architecture, centred around opportunities to collaborate and spontaneously engage outside of the labs and classrooms.
As part of McGill’s Indigenous Engagement Initiative, an ongoing communication and collaboration with the Indigenous community has informed the design. The New Vic project embodies fluidity, diversity, interconnectedness, and inclusivity. The project offers an architecture in dialogue with a heritage legacy, while also supporting the natural and social history of the site and the City of Montreal.
CLIENT McGill University | ARCHITECT TEAM Diamond Schmitt—Martin Davidson (Project Architect, FRAIC), Don Schmitt (FRAIC), Cecily Eckhardt (MRAIC), Matthew Lella (FRAIC), Peggy Theodore (FRAIC), Emily Baxter, Timothy Birchard, Cynthia Carbonneau, Michelle Chan, Mia Chen, Ashley Fava, John Featherstone, Dan Gallivan, Judith Geher, Dennis Giobbe, Michaela Gomes, Zhivka Hristova, Chris Hughes (MRAIC), Dieter Janssen (MRAIC), Victor Lima, Sarah Low, Fiona Lu, Mike Lukasik, Giuseppe Mandarino, Dejan Mojic, Mindy Morin, Nadia Mulji, Iva Radikova, Philippa Swartz, Mike Taylor, Joe Troppmann, Elcin Unal, Valeriia Vikhtinska, Haley Zhou. Lemay Michaud—Lucie Vaillancourt (Project Architect), Louise Dupont, Marco Blais, Cécile Bohrer, Nicholas Léonard, Olivia Ferguson-Losier, Dimitri Kwas, Marie-Pierre Fréchette, Francesca Devito, Rose-Marie Simard, Sophie Clot, Pascale Nadeau, Jessica Moore, Camille Lepage-Mandeville, Fériel Tamizar, Jessica Ménard-Haman, Olivier Dufour, Anne-Marie Bouliane, Geneviève Gingras, Laurent Dieval, Judi Farkas, Solange Guaida, Harold Stephenson, Philip Juneau-Drolet, Alexandre Desgroseillers, Valérie Soucy, Guillaume Boisvert | HERITAGE ERA Architects | LANDSCAPE CCxA | PRELIMINARY DESIGN FACADES CONSULTANT (up to 40 per cent design): Arup | STRUCTURAL/CIVIL CONSULTANT: ARUP / CIMA+ | ELECTRICAL/MECHANICAL Pageau Morel / BPA | ACOUSTICS Aercoustics Engineering Limited | CODE Technorm Inc.| COMMISSIONING TST Energy Systems Inc.| COSTING Turner & Townsend | ELEVATOR KJA Consultants Inc. | ENVELOPE RDH Building Science | LEED/WELL Village Consulting | LIGHTING CS Design | SECURITY RHEA Group | SIGNAGE Intégral Jean Beaudoin | SPECIFICATIONS Brian Ballantyne Specifications (BBS) and Jean-Guy Lambert | STRUCTURAL GLASS ELEMA+CPA | URBAN DESIGN enclume | PROJECT MANAGEMENT DECASULT | CONSTRUCTION MANAGEMENT Pomerleau | AREA 49,500 m2 | BUDGET $870 M | STATUS Construction Documents | ANTICIPATED COMPLETION 2028
ENERGY USE INTENSITY (PROJECTED) 425 kWh/m2/year | THERMAL ENERGY DEMAND INTENSITY (PROJECTED) 380 kWh/m2/year | GREENHOUSE GAS INTENSITY (PROJECTED) 18.2 kgCO2e/m2/year | WATER USE INTENSITY (PROJECTED) 0.855 m3/m2/year