Arthur J.E. Child Comprehensive Cancer Centre
Designing the future of cancer care
Healthcare & Wellness
The new Arthur J.E. Child Comprehensive Cancer Centre will centralize treatment and care for cancer patients in southern Alberta. Symbolizing the type of care a patient can expect to receive, the design features two curving L-shaped forms that come together in an embrace surrounding an all-season garden as the “heart,” providing year-round access and views to nature for patients and their families.
DIALOG, in collaboration with Stantec, is responsible for the architectural and interior design as well as structural, mechanical and electrical engineering. DIALOG is also providing landscape architecture, planning and urban design.
- Location
- Calgary, AB
- Size
- 1,177,238 sq ft
- Client
- Alberta Health Services
- Completion
- 2023
- Sustainability LEED® Gold
- DIALOG Services
- Collaborators
Stantec
Smith + Andersen
PCL Construction Management Inc.
Architecture
Electrical Engineering
Interior Design
Landscape Architecture
Mechanical Engineering
Structural Engineering
Planning & Urban Design
The new Arthur J.E. Child Comprehensive Cancer Centre will become the largest cancer treatment and research facility in Canada and the second largest in North America.
Shaped around a seven-story podium building and six-story tower, the design of the building signals a shift in what is expected of modern healthcare facilities.
The geometry and forms from the exterior building podium are carried through the two-story volume and reinforce the sense of entry into the building.
A sensitive mapping solution centred around the internal “heart” courtyard considers wind flow, sun shadows, and iconic views to ensure patients are guided by and exposed to nature.
Targeting LEED Gold, the building is engineered to provide noise and vibration-free environments that promote patient healing.
The Centre will contain inpatient units, outpatient clinics, radiation therapy vaults and medical research lab spaces.
Architecture is being used primarily as a vehicle to elicit a psychological response to bring into being feelings of trust, comfort, and resilience for patients, family, and staff.
The Team
DIALOG-Stantec Healthcare TeamHospitals are traditionally designed to access oriented to the interior, which makes wayfinding difficult. Designing from the outside in, light can elegantly penetrate common areas, which is central to health and healing.
Two L-shaped structures embrace an inner courtyard, like a healing embrace.
What if a building could give a hug? This concept is refined through a rendering showing the building on the site from above.
The building takes shape around the central courtyard.
The design idea comes to life in 3D.
The project broke ground in 2017.
