Michael
G. DeGroote Centre for Learning & Discovery
Project Description: Construction has neared
completion on the Michael G. DeGroote Centre for Learning and Discovery,
the University’s
300,000 square-foot, five-storey expansion to the north side of
the McMaster University Medical Centre.
The new facility provides much needed space for teaching, learning
and research and addresses a number of critical needs for the
University and its affiliates.
The first floor includes six classrooms and five lecture theatres
for classes from across all faculties. One theatre, with 600 seats,
is the largest seating space on campus. Altogether, the first
floor will seat more than 1,800 students and helps McMaster
address the needs created by Ontario’s “double cohort”.
The second floor is connected to the McMaster University Medical
Centre and will be used by Hamilton Health Sciences for patient
care wards.
Plans are still being finalized, but the hospital may use the space
for intensive care facilities.
The third floor is dedicated to the needs of the Faculty of
Health Sciences for classrooms, tutorial rooms, postgraduate offices
and laboratories. A rounds room has state-of-the-art teleconferencing
facilities, allowing students at hospitals across the city or
throughout
the province to join in discussions as if they were sitting in
the room.
The fourth and most of the fifth floors showcase the Institute
for Molecular Medicine and Health, which includes the Centre for
Gene Therapeutics and is a prototype for the University’s
new revolution in health sciences education and research. The
two
floors contain a variety of offices, wet laboratories and
business incubator space for biotechnology start-up companies.
The rest of the fifth floor is used for biotechnology space.
An interior atrium adds a dramatic design statement, flooding
the top floors with natural light.
The final phase of the project includes an exciting new front
façade adjacent to the north entrance. Consisting of a three-storey
glass enclosed atrium, this addition will include areas
for gatherings and special announcements, accented by tranquil
water flows, reflecting ponds, and indoor gardens. A third floor
glass enclosed meeting room will architecturally appear to float
above.
Cost: $71 million
External funding sources: Canada Foundation for
Innovation, SuperBuild, Ontario Research and Development Challenge
Fund, Hamilton Health Sciences Corporation, private sources.
Other: McMaster financing
Architect: NORR Architects
Contractor: Vanbots Construction Corporation
Timeline: Building complete, with the exception
of construction of the atrium which will commence at the end
of September 2004 with completion
scheduled
for Spring
2005.
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Front
Aerial View
Rear
Aerial View
Classroom
Interior
First Floor
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