Casey House

From the May 2019 Issue of ARCHITECT:

This care facility for HIV- and AIDS-related illnesses blends contemporary and historic architecture in one program-filled package.

The problem of surface receives a bracingly new and surprisingly poignant treatment in Toronto-based Hariri Pontarini Architects’ (HPA) addition to Casey House, a special care facility for HIV- and AIDS-related illnesses in the designers’ hometown. Located in the city’s historic Upper Jarvis district, the building comprises three distinct parts: the renovated 1875 William R. Johnston House, a stately Victorian mansion (nicknamed “the Grey Lady” by locals), that faces the main thoroughfare; a towering glass atrium, the first component of the HPA intervention, to the rear; and another extension still further to the east along a side street, this one clad in alternating swatches of brick, stone, and glass.

The hierarchy between these three elements is remarkably legible: The central volume, the tallest and most transparent of the three, clearly establishes itself as the main point of entry and public space, while the flanking structures in their subdued masonry cladding announce themselves as support spaces for staff and patients. What makes the façade such a deft bit of sleight-of-hand is in the easternmost wing, which effectively mediates between the ultra-contemporary atrium and the 19th-century house by dint of its blended materiality, with rustic slabs of ashlar and multihued brickwork shifting around strips of glass to create a perfect collage of new and old.

But this clever instance of contextual double-coding also encloses a deeper meaning—its patchwork aesthetic is a subtle reference to the famed AIDS Memorial Quilt, the massive collective art project that tells the story of the epidemic and its victims through 54 tons of fabric. Symbolic significance lies in the building’s plan as well, with the addition enfolding the original house in a literal “embrace,” its north and south wings reaching out to the Grey Lady and forming an inner courtyard that gives all the patient rooms a glimpse of green.

Project Credits
Project: Casey House, Toronto
Client: Casey House
Architect: Hariri Pontarini Architects, Toronto . Siamak Hariri, (partner-in-charge); Jeff Strauss, Edward Joseph, Michael Boxer, Howard Wong, Cara Kedzior, Rico Law, Andria Fong, John Cook (project team)
Interior Designer: Hariri Pontarini Architects; IBI Group
Structural Engineer: Entuitive
M/E/P/Civil Engineer: WSP Global
Geotechnical Engineer: Coffey
Construction Manager: BTY Group
General Contractor: Bird Construction
Landscape Architect: Mark Hartley Landscape Architects
Lighting Designer: WSP Global
Heritage Consultant: ERA Architects
Size: 59,000 square feet
Cost: $40 million Canadian (approximately $29.91 million)

Materials and Sources
Exterior cladding: AGC Flat Glass (curtainwall); Cloud Ceramics (brick cladding); Algonquin Ledgerock (stone cladding); Agway Metals (metal cladding and flashing); Durex (EIFS); Soprema (roofing, gren roofing); Traditional Cut Stone (heritage house stone)
Structure: Verdi Alliance (concrete); Mansteel Rebar (rebar); Aluma Systems (shoring)
Interior cladding: Georgia Pacific Gypsum (drywall); Rockfon (acoustic ceiling tile); Bailey Metal Products (metal stud framing); Sika (epoxy floor); Terra Legno (wood flooring); Mannington (sheet flooring); Trillium Architectural Products (wood/metal doors, door hardware); Provincial Store Fixtures (millwork); Stonetile (porcelain tile)
Furniture: Steelcase; Kiosk Conveyance: Kone (elevators); Garaventa Lift (lift)
Roof Anchors: Probel

This project won a 2019 AIA Institute Honor Award for architecture.

FROM THE AIA:

A much-needed extension and addition for a specialized healthcare facility serving those living with HIV/AIDS, Toronto’s Casey House represents a new prototype for hospitals. Over 10 years in the making, it meets the needs of its patients and their providers in a setting designed to evoke the comforts of home.

Adding 59,000 square feet of space to an existing heritage-designated Victorian mansion, the design team implemented a new Day Health Program to serve 200 registered clients through 14 new inpatient rooms. The new structure embraces the 1875 mansion, nicknamed “the Grey Lady,” and organizes the user experience around a landscaped courtyard, visible from every corridor and room.

Unifying themes of warmth, intimacy, privacy, and solidarity are evident in the design, which drew inspiration from the AIDS Memorial Quilt and its symbolic expression of the battle against the disease. In its vertical and horizontal planes, the project’s architecture is a physical manifestation of an embrace. The extension reaches over and around the mansion, which was updated and renovated, while the addition surrounds the courtyard.

Maintaining the original character of Toronto’s Jarvis Street, the addition juxtaposes the old and the new. Its brick, tinted mirrored glass, and limestone façade echo a patchwork quilt, while a garden surrounded by a beech hedge offers space for contemplation. Inside, the welcoming spaces are familiar, deftly straddling institutional and residential. The heritage building’s brick is exposed in the living room, a central gathering space that boasts a two-story atrium anchored by a full-height fireplace of Algonquin limestone. A second-floor bridge connecting both spaces offers end-to-end views.

Staying true to the client’s mission and ideals, the team was able to channel the compassionate legacy of Casey House founder June Callwood in every detail. The warmth and caring that has always found in Casey House’s staff is now expressed by the building itself.