April 16, 2024

The design of the New Clinical Support and Research Centre (CSRC) at St. Paul’s Hospital is featured in an article by David McPherson for The Globe and Mail.

The CSRC aims to attract scientists and medical thought leaders with its state-of-the-art core research facilities that include scientific dry and wet labs, specialty medical practices, specimen biobanks and analytic data centres.

“This new science and innovation hub includes maker spaces for startups to incubate ideas and design and build prototypes related to the health care industry and for researchers to conduct clinical trials and then bring these products from the lab to the market – linking scientific discovery, research, prevention and cures back to the bedside,” says Don Schmitt, principal at Diamond Schmitt Architects.

A two-storey bridge physically connects the CSRC and St. Paul’s Hospital on the eighth and seventh floors. Public spaces to host events and conferences are planned at grade level, along with retail opportunities.

The innovation centre, the heart of the new CSRC, is a collaboration hub that features a variety of meeting spaces and sandboxing prototyping areas, all designed to be a symbiotic and social ecosystem that brings people out of their labs and offices into a space that inspires them to share ideas, brainstorm and problem-solve.

“This innovation hub brings together patients, physicians, researchers and academic partners to create sustainable solutions to the challenges that face health and well-being across the world,” Fiona Dalton, president and chief executive officer of Providence Health Care says. “The goal is that this hub sparks cross-disciplinary collaboration.”

The CSRC’s design also includes a large, shared cafeteria where colleagues can brainstorm solutions over lunch or a cup of coffee. “We’ve created a social space for high-performing doctors to meet with researchers and where knowledge transfer can happen and percolate over a cup of coffee,” says Don Schmitt Principal at Diamond Schmitt.

Outdoor terraces are located on the third, eighth and ninth floors facing the southwest. A civic plaza and public park are planned between the two buildings to connect with the ever-changing False Creek Flats community from industrial to residential and commercial development. Plans are to make this a lively space that can host a weekly farmers’ market and other public-facing events.“

The CSRC will be a truly integrated health care facility and a vibrant place of science and social activity in downtown Vancouver.”

Read the full article in The Globe and Mail here.