The Globe and Mail’s Dave LeBlanc, aka The Architourist, recently toured the St. Joseph’s Hospital Redevelopment site in Peterborough – an ambitious reclamation of a former hospital site by TVM Group. BNKC is working on several projects at the site including an adaptive reuse apartment building that used to be a patient wing and the new East City Condo development.
Mr. LeBlanc was interested in the site’s history and how the redevelopment will make its mark on the Peterborough community. Its history is very interesting indeed. You can learn more about the parallels of the site’s past with today’s challenges in a recent blog post.
LeBlanc is not stranger to the challenges of adaptive reuse projects, “Ask any structural engineer, developer, or architect, and you’ll get the collective Greek Chorus: Purpose-built, utilitarian buildings, such as churches or grain silos, do not convert easily to other uses, especially warm-and-cozy residential.” But, the project’s developer, Amit Sofer, is embracing the challenge, “Every unit is different, so that’s what gives the architects all kinds of problems – and free reign to create.”
“This hodge-podge of buildings, bridges, tunnels and addition to buildings…could’ve been an architectural dog’s breakfast in the wrong hands. Instead…BNKC Architects…have created an inviting, thriving complex of 21st-century rental apartments.” – Dave LeBlanc
Read the full Globe and Mail article here: Critical Care for a Former Hospital Site.
From left to right, Globe and Mail’s Dave LeBlanc, developer Amit Sofer, TVM Group regional manager Tammy Deneault, and BNKC’s Jonathan King
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Want to learn more about East City Condos and the St. Joseph Hospital Redevelopment? Click here.
Interested in St. Joseph’s Hospital history? Read more: Parallels from the Past in Peterborough