For over thirty-five years, Jodoin Lamarre Pratte architectes has been designing healthcare projects of all scales and specializations. Having developed this expertise over several decades, the firm is driven to work on increasingly large and complex mandates and therefore enthusiastically announces that it is contributing to the clinical planning and design of the new campus of The Ottawa Hospital. It is Ottawa’s largest health infrastructure project to date and thirtieth largest infrastructure project in Canada, to be located near Dow’s Lake along Carling Avenue, Preston Street, and Prince of Wales Drive. The project began in late 2023 and is being undertaken with the firms Parkin, Adamson Associates Architects, and BBB Architects.

With a multidisciplinary team assembled by builders PCL Construction and Ellis Don — on behalf of Infrastructure Ontario, The Ottawa Hospital, and the Ontario Ministry of Health — the project will be carried out in a progressive DBFM (design-build-finance-maintain) mode. When completed, the new facilities will enable The Ottawa Hospital to provide highly specialized emergency and trauma services to the population of eastern Ontario, western Quebec, and Nunavut. More than 6,000 people will work and practice medicine every day on the new 250,000 square-metre campus, nearly half of the over 15,000 people that work across all The Ottawa Hospital campuses.

Planning and design criteria

The wellbeing of patients, visitors, staff, and the wider community is at the heart of the new building’s design. The project team ensures that design solutions follow the criteria of the Canada Green Building Council’s LEED rating system, the National Capital Commission’s sustainable development strategies, the One Planet Living framework, and the WELL Building standard.

In summary, the new campus will include:

• 641 individual rooms with fully accessible bathrooms to promote infection prevention and control, while offering more privacy, rest, and space for loved ones to spend the night;
• Eastern Ontario’s most modern trauma center, with specialized operating rooms and programs, as well as outpatient clinics;
• research and teaching facilities integrated within the care spaces, so that patients benefit from the most advanced and innovative technologies and treatments;
• spaces dedicated to spiritual meditation and Aboriginal cultural and spiritual practices;
• sustainable design features and a low carbon footprint;
• accessible, transit-oriented, and green spaces, safe for pedestrians, cyclists, and transit users;
• and one of the most innovative neuroscience research programs in the world.

The planning and design of the new campus follows seven principles, which reflect the ambitious vision for the future facility:

1. Create an exceptional experience for patients, their families and staff.
2. Enhance the health and wellbeing of people on site and in the community.
3. Ensure universal accessibility.
4. Provide a welcoming environment for everyone.
5. Encourage leadership in research and innovation.
6. Foster learning opportunities for the next generation of healthcare workers.
7. Contribute to global health and environmental sustainability.
   
   
   
   

Image credits: © HDR Architecture Associates, master architects (preliminary designs)