Hôtel-Dieu Grace Hospital is the amalgamation of two faith-based, publicly funded community hospitals in the city of Windsor, Ontario, Canada. The consolidation of Grace Hospital and Hôtel-Dieu Hospital commenced in 1995 and will be complete in 2005, when a final series of renovations is completed and the Grace site is closed. The administrative and clinical restructuring were completed in 1997, after direction from Ontario’s Health Services Restructuring Commission.

The clients’ essential need to consolidate the two facilities led to the creation of larger new departments, including the Emergency Department, Outpatient Clinics, Diagnostic Imaging, Surgical Suite, and ICU. All areas needed to accommodate new information technology and Imaging and Patient Services, and needed to emphasize the reuse of existing floor areas to maximize cost-effectiveness and timely project delivery.

The hospital site spans a broad city block, from the main city street of Ouellette Avenue to the street on which the Windsor-Detroit Tunnel is accessed.

Project category: New construction & Remodel/Renovation (completed August 2002 [Diagnostic & Treatment Addition/ICU])

Chief administrator: Ken Deane, President & CEO, (519) 973-4444

Firm: Parkin Architects, Ltd., (416) 467-8000

Design team: Ain Allas, Director, Project Director; Mark Michasiw, Vice-President, Project Architect (Parkin Architects, Ltd.); Rob Ellis, Partner (Yolles Partnership, Ltd.); Peter Vanderwesten, President (Vanderwesten & Rutherford, Ltd.); Bruno Bortollotti, Partner (J.P. Thomson Associates, Ltd.)

Photography: Richard Johnson, Interior Images; Parkin Architects, Ltd.

Total building area (GSF): 130,000 (new); 200,000 (renovation)

Construction cost/sq. ft.: Diagnostic & Treatment Centre, $292; ICU, $380; Dialysis, $206

Total cost (excluding land): $58,000,000

As a major step in the redevelopment process, a new 130,000-square-foot wing was constructed to the east of the existing hospital on three levels. This project includes the Emergency Department, Outpatient Clinics, Diagnostic Imaging, Surgical Suite, and ICU. As part of the new Diagnostic and Treatment addition, a new main entrance, drop-off, lobby, and vertical connections were created, along with a new ambulatory and ambulance emergency entrance, on Goyeau Street.

The lobby and public space system collects and organizes circulation along a new pedestrian “street,” connecting new and existing entrances with vertical circulation and major department areas, including the Emergency/Outpatient Clinics, Diagnostic Imaging, Patient Management, and Library. This thoroughfare also provides gracious access to surgical waiting on an upper level and the cafeteria below.

Brick, maple, and stone-like materials create continuity between the interior and exterior spaces and the community campus.

The existing buildings include structures from 1938, 1952, and 1962, all with floor-to-floor heights of 10 or 11 feet. To accommodate modern diagnostic and treatment equipment and modern hospital services, floor-to-floor heights of 15 and 16 feet were needed. The elevation change had to be designed into the public space system. Thus, gracious, terrazzo-finished stairs and convenient elevator access are provided. A direct, interior connection to a new parking structure is also provided.

When the final renovations phase is completed, Surgical Day Care, Surgical Short Stay, and a renovated Laboratory will join the new Surgical Suite and Recovery Area.

In areas such as Surgical Suite and ICU, the clients emphasized the need for clustering medical technology as close to the patient as possible. Therefore, articulated service arms are used in all ICU rooms, with the patient bed centered in the room. In the Surgical Suite, several rooms were designed to support minimally invasive surgical procedures; this included the integration of Imaging and real-time orthoscope procedures.

Renovations also have created new patient beds, Inpatient Psychiatric facilities, a Dialysis Unit, and an expanded Hospital Library. The final phase of renovations will include a Patient-Management Centre, a consolidated Nuclear Medicine program, Day Care Surgery, and a Cardiac Services suite.