Master Architects Hired; Decontamination Complete

The MUHC has announced the consortium of award-winning architects that will design its two redeveloped campuses. Four Quebec firms will form the nucleus of the team that will create the master architectural plan and design the structures on the Glen and the Mountain: Les architectes Lemay et associés, Jodoin Lamarre Pratte et associés architectes, André Ibghy Architectes and Menkès Shooner Dagenais Letourneux Architectes. Their expertise will be supplemented by consultants from two renowned international firms:
Moshe Safdie & Associates and Perkins+Will.

“I am most excited about the challenge and opportunity presented by the MUHC to create a new model for health care architecture for the 21st century.”
— Moshe Safdie, Safdie & Associates

All four of the consortium’s core firms have extensive experience designing for the Quebec health care milieu, overseeing projects such as the expansion of the Hôpital Hôtel-Dieu, the construction of a new cancer centre at the Jewish General Hospital and the creation of new facilities at the Centre hospitalier Pierre-Boucher and the Centre hospitalier Pierre‑LeGardeur. Some of the consortium’s members have also been involved with the initial architectural concepts for the MUHC’s redevelopment and with other renovation projects across the existing sites.

For many Montrealers, the most familiar name around the table will be that of Moshe Safdie, whose iconic design for the Habitat ’67 housing project made him an international celebrity when he was only 24 years old. Since that time, Safdie has designed a wide range of high-profile public, civic, academic and cultural institutions, including the National Gallery of Canada, the redesigned Pearson International Airport in Toronto and the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa. The McGill graduate will oversee the master plan for the Glen campus, bringing a singular aesthetic sensibility, a wealth of global experience and more than a touch of glamour to the MUHC’s vision.

“Hospital environments have come to be synonymous with alienation, as they have grown larger, more confusing and an assemblage of patched-up additions. I am most excited about the challenge and opportunity presented by the MUHC to create a new model for health care architecture for the 21st century,” said Moshe Safdie. “I look forward to meeting the objectives articulated by David Culver and Arthur Porter, notably of creating a place of community, humanity and comfort for patients, their families and the dedicated healthcare professionals. Rarely has there been an opportunity to re-examine hospital architecture from first principles.”

On September 26, the MUHC and the Corporation d’hébergement du Québec (CHQ) jointly announced that the environmental remediation of the Glen campus is officially complete. Hébert-Loiselle-Quéformat, the firm responsible for the project, has submitted its final report indicating that the site is now ready for the first phase of construction to begin. The decontamination was completed on time and on budget, and represents an important step in the transformation of the Glen campus from an unwelcoming industrial space into an inviting and hospital-ready greenfield.

Decontamination by the numbers:

• Scheduled project duration: 18 months
• Real project duration: 18 months
• Projected project cost: $38.2 million
• Real project cost: $38.2 million
• Amount of soil excavated from the site: 2.2 million metric tons
• Loads removed per day during peak periods: 120-150
• Rate at which demolition debris was recycled: 95 percent
• Amount of potable water saved by using runoff and storm water: 3.67 million litres