Krembil Discovery Tower

NXL was the Research Area Architect for 170,000 sf of neuroscience research laboratories for the Krembil Discovery Tower (KDT) project at the Toronto Western Hospital campus of the University Health Network. Five and a half floors of dedicated research space will house state-of-the-art biomedical research facilities, including a multi-species Animal Resource Centre. The KDT research areas provide open, flexible lab environments connected to write up areas by glazed walls. Spaces for interactive work were distributed within the labs at the design phase, but annexed into the laboratory functions by the time the project was occupied. The facility includes the ‘Sky Lobby’, a set of two-storey glass enclosed lounges built into the corner of the structure designed to promote collaboration between research groups.

Undertaken in association with Stantec Architecture, the overall facility is 325,000 sf over nine-stories and houses the Krembil Neuroscience Centre, Donald K. Johnson Eye Centre and Buchan Arthritis Research Centre, as well as Altum Health and the Tanz Centre for Research in Neurodegenerative Diseases. The $129M state of- the-art facility houses Canada’s largest concentration of neurologists, neurosurgeons, neuroradiologists and neuroscientists – more than 150 specialists – working collaboratively in the nine-storey centre

“There was no question that the Toronto Western Research Institute was in need of better research space to house its top flight research programs. The KDT will allow us to attract and retain the top medical researchers which will ensure continued advancement.” VP of Research Dr. Christopher Paige

Stantec in Association with NXL; SNC Lavalin Pharma; Merrick; Halsall Associates

Photographs by Shai Gill