CAMH Research Centre

The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) is a PAHO/WHO Collaborating Centre and Canada’s largest teaching hospital and the world-leading research centre in its field. The new Research Centre culminates a 20-year Master Plan vision to transform its downtown campus into an urban village inspired by the masonry fabric of Toronto’s heritage residential and industrial neighbourhoods. The goal with the new research building is to remove the stigma associated with mental health institutions and reflect the evolution of CAMH’s leadership and expertise. Every Building Implies a City: The design reconciles the past, present, and future of CAMH’s Queen Street campus by honouring the deep Indigenous, pre-settlement origins of the site as a place of gathering, retreat, and security. The curvilinear, transparent design set within a green landscape provides a highly visible and accessible counterpoint to the darker history associated with the former 19th-century palatial asylum that stood on this site, memorialized in remaining fragments of the Heritage Wall built by the residents of the asylum. In this way, the design recovers the original meaning of the word asylum as a refuge, an oasis for compassion, care, dignity, and respect. Its distinctive form creates a welcoming presence and all its entrances and pathways are sited to be pedestrian, bicycle, and public transit-friendly, from the TTC on Queen West to the King-Liberty SmartTrack Station which will be accessed from the south-west corner of the campus.