LOCATION: Ottawa, Ontario

ARCHITECT: Parkin Architects Ltd in joint venture with Adamson Associates Architects & Brisbin Brook Beynon Architects.

DESIGN LEADERSHIP: Michael Poitras, Partner-in-Charge of Design, Adamson

COMPETITION: Private/Public Partnership (P3) – First Place

CLIENT: Healthcare Infrastructure Company of Canada

Royal Ottawa Hospital

Set within a large, Greenfield site with a natural park-like atmosphere and replacing a campus of antiquated buildings, is the competition-winning Royal Ottawa Hospital. This large psychiatric facility addresses its site in two very different ways. By locating the research, education, administration and 200 seat auditorium in a seven-storey glass tower, and placing it as close to Carling Avenue as possible, a transparent building engages the city with the utmost of confidence, projecting a “high tech” entrance building to the street.

Simultaneously, nine three-storey, “house-like” in-patient/out-patient buildings, with specialized programs, have merged with the adjacent park, by weaving their staggered, parallel bars into the surrounding natural environment. Constructed of warm, earth-toned buff brick, these long, linear buildings incorporate numerous courtyards, allowing patients safe year-round access to the outdoors.

An extra challenge faced with this project was an aggressive two-year construction schedule, whereby all existing facilities had to remain operational throughout the building process, with demolition of the existing facility only commencing when the new hospital was up and running.

As a completed project, the Royal Ottawa Hospital shows both sides of its face, from city-focussed glass research education tower, to garden-entrenched patient housing, effectively expressing the dichotomy of the building’s programs and its diverse site conditions .

Note: For Royal Ottawa Hospital statistics, materials and general program, see Institutional Portfolio – Royal Ottawa Hospital.