The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) is Canada’s largest mental health teaching hospital, one of the world’s leading research centres in its field and serves over 38,000 patients annually.
With 385,000 sq. ft. of space, the new Temerty Discovery Centre is a 7-storey building that will house1,400 staff, and will contain research and health labs, space for clinical trials, academic and lecture space, office spaces and a central atrium connecting everything together. The goal of the building is to be an inclusive and inviting hub, and to remove the stigma associated with mental health institutions.
Once completed, it will be Canada’s largest hybrid mass timber public facility.
Mass Timber Creates an Inclusive and Inviting Space
The new Centre’s curvilinear mass timber building was created to be a welcoming oasis of compassion, dignity, and respect that exudes warmth and wellness. Its design prioritizes the human experience.
The hybrid mass timber structure reduces the carbon footprint significantly compared to conventional building systems and helps to create a sense of warmth and well-being, reducing stress and increasing creativity.
Element5’s Role – Mass Timber Construction Details
As a design-assist partner from the schematic design stage, Element5 played a key role in integrating cross-laminated timber into the CLT/concrete composite floor systems.
We collaborated with the full design team and external partners to conduct fire and acoustic testing on mockup assemblies and contributed to developing the design of the mass timber connections. All CLT components will be manufactured and transported from our St. Thomas, Ontario facility.
Finally, the concrete composite floor assembly features a unique bubble deck concrete – attached to the CLT through kerf cuts and shear keys. The project also incorporates a Raised Access floor system and meets stringent acoustic standards.
The Centre is targeting LEED V4 Platinum & Tier 3 Toronto Green City Standards. Ground was broken on the project in 2024.
