Temerty Discovery Centre

Giving architectural form to evolving values

For more than two decades, KPMB has supported the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) — Canada’s largest mental health teaching hospital and a global leader in brain research — in developing a long-term vision for the institution’s downtown Toronto presence, envisioned as the mental health campus of the future.

The Temerty Discovery Centre represents the culmination of those efforts. Designed by KPMB with Treanor, the hybrid mass timber research facility will advance critical discoveries in brain science, while expressing the growing cultural awareness and understanding of mental health that CAMH has long championed.

A world-leading hub for research

The 385,000-square-foot facility will unite more than two-thirds of CAMH’s 1,400 research staff under one roof, expanding the institution’s capacity for housing scientists, staff, students, and trainees by more than 40 percent.

A two-storey, glass-enclosed volume houses communal, clinical, and amenity spaces; four levels are dedicated to interconnected, light-filled workspaces; and an event space at the building’s top is a place for knowledge sharing and learning.

To promote collaboration and knowledge-sharing, the building prioritizes convergence. It is organized around two “hemispheres” united by a central meeting space — the building’s own “corpus callosum” — for researchers, clients, and visitors.

“Every building implies a city”: architecture as an expression of cultural change

An architectural expression of CAMH’s belief that mental health should be treated with the same respect and compassion afforded to any illness, the Temerty Discovery Centre was shaped by an important question: how can design help eliminate stigmas?

The new building — curvilinear, transparent, and connected to its context — will stand in contrast to the 19th-century asylum that was once sequestered from the city behind large walls on the site. In addition to serving as a highly accessible and visible counterpoint to that history, the new building will also establish community-focused landscapes, reclaiming the site as a place of gathering, retreat, and safety.

Canada’s first major research facility built of wood

The Temerty Discovery Centre will be one of the world’s most sustainable laboratory and research facilities, exceeding LEED Platinum V4 and Tier 3 Toronto Green Standards.

The hybrid mass timber-concrete design combines the benefits of mass timber with the structural advantages of concrete. The use of mass timber will sequester an estimated 2,280 tons of carbon, while also supporting occupant health, well-being, and productivity through exposure to natural materials.

Recognizing that concrete construction simplifies the layout of laboratories and research spaces, the Temerty Discovery Centre is among the first buildings in North America to employ a “bubble deck”. By forming voids that eliminate unnecessary concrete, this system will reduce carbon emissions by a further 40 percent.