Architecture News Plus (ANP) – Architecture and Design Magazine

School of Pharmacy and Michael G. Degroote School of Medicine

This is a project by Hariri Pontarini Architects + Young + Wright Architects and it is located at Kitchener, Ontario, Canada. It was submitted to Architecture News Plus (ANP) by Hariri Pontarini Architects. Project's program: Integrated health sciences campus. There are seven images for School of Pharmacy and Michael G. Degroote School of Medicine.

: © Ben Rahn/A-Frame

Project details

Project name: School of Pharmacy and Michael G. Degroote School of Medicine
Location: Kitchener, Ontario, Canada
Program: Integrated health sciences campus
Area: Built-up area: 243,000 sf
Year: Completion: December 2008
More details: Construction cost: $60 Million
Client: University of Waterloo
Project by: Hariri Pontarini Architects + Young + Wright Architects
Team: Principal designer: Siamak Hariri

Project images

Designer's statement

The University of Waterloo’s Integrated Health Sciences Campus, comprised of the University of Waterloo School of Pharmacy and McMaster University’s Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine, was designed and built to not only provide a suitable learning environment for students and faculty, but to also act as a catalyst for its immediate community, as well as presenting the City of Kitchener with a distinct landmark. A public and private partnership between the City of Kitchener and University of Waterloo, formed in 2003, created an opportunity for the City to offer the land and funding and subsequently obtain a facility that would offer an imperative education, pharmaceutical and medical services to the community and would also present a landmark—School of Pharmacy Building—on the urban landscape.

The University of Waterloo’s School of Pharmacy was designed and built to provide a suitable learning environment for students and faculty, act as a catalyst for its immediate community, and presents the city of Kitchener with a distinct landmark. A public and private partnership between the city of Kitchener and University of Waterloo created a rare opportunity to provide the citizens of the region with a facility offers a superior education and pharmaceutical services, while energizing the urban landscape.

The result is a hybrid of school and clinic that sets an important precedent for future developments in this realm. As such, the projects incorporate complementing programs, mixing faculty and student laboratories, lecture and seminar rooms, an auditorium, an herbarium, a family clinic, and a commercial pharmacy. Designed around a series of interactive spaces, the buildings encourage collaboration and dynamic interaction between students and faculty. The lyrical façades incorporate drawings of traditional herbs, and the interior is designed around a series of interactive spaces that encourage dynamic interaction between students and faculty. The enclosed courtyard and central fireplace allow for the relaxed exchange of ideas, while the herbarium and medicinal garden embody a more broad and holistic approach.

As the second phase of the complex, McMaster University’s Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine completes the partnership and encourages collaboration and dynamic interaction between students and faculty. An enclosed courtyard and large central fireplace create interactive gathering spaces between the two buildings, which foster discussion and the exchange of ideas. A herbarium moves outside the confines of traditional pharmaceutical practice, encouraging a broader, more holistic approach to the field. Here, the school will also offer scientific and public lectures on the plant-based origins of modern medicines.

Exterior glass panels, laminated with custom designed herbal patterning, convey imagery of the early stages of medicinal use, showcasing traditional plant varieties while simultaneously enhancing the streetscape with an unprecedented aesthetic for the increasingly urbane neighbourhood. It also serves to reduce light penetration and thus, efficiently control heating and cooling loads. The use of local materiality serves to further this holistic effect: recycled wood flooring, Algonquin limestone, and copper detailing create a fresh interpretation of the traditional canon of academic institutions.

The architecture and facilities provide a wealth of benefits to the school’s users and to the wider community at large. Located outside the main campus in downtown Kitchener’s warehouse district, the new health sciences campus is poised to have significant impact in the community’s revitalization, as an amenity for students, faculty and residents alike. To facilitate the use of the most progressive teaching and learning methods, the School of Pharmacy is designed with an array of classroom and laboratories, suiting a range of different group sizes including tiered lecture halls, seminar or classroom style lecture rooms, and flexible labs.

The buildings’ key programmatic features include: an eight-storey tower directly on the corner of King and Victoria Streets, creating a strong gateway to the downtown; a central outdoor courtyard providing a venue for both interaction and quiet contemplation and the opportunity to host art exhibitions and outdoor performance. And finally a three-storey tall School of Medicine that complements the campus with its innovative teaching methods. The two buildings generate a dialogue in harmony through materiality and form.