Montreal Sacred Heart Hospital

The Montreal Sacred Heart Hospital, which dates back to 1926, required major upgrades to correct a slew of physical, functional, and structural deficiencies. These issues included care units that were too small, inadequate sound control between rooms and floors, and an acute lack of patient privacy.

A $155M renovation of the existing building was launched by client CIUSSS du Nord-de-l’Île-de-Montréal and its partners, along with a seven-storey, 210,000 sq.ft. extension for a new Integrated Trauma Center, a Mother-Child Unit (UME), and an Endoscopy Unit.

As part of the addition the client required ample natural light combined with sun and solar heat gain control, while the building itself needed to be integrated into the existing built environment. All materials used had to be durable and environmentally friendly.

The project, completed in 2021, featured several glass installations by Unicel Architectural:

● More than 5,000 total square feet of various glazing installations, including double paned glass, spandrels, interior single-pane tempered glass, laminated glass, X-Ray shielding glass, switchable glass, fire-rated glass, and triple-paned aluminum curtain wall

● More than 200 triple-paned ViuLite® panels 2 ⅛” thick within the aluminum curtain wall, which featured a custom sleeve with a separate membrane, wool, and other sound- and vibration-dampening materials. An additional sound-dampening membrane on the curtain wall’s backpan provided further sound control (typically, curtain walls are made of aluminum tubes running several floors, allowing sound to travel between floors)

These installations weren’t without their challenges, however.

The specifications called for triple-paned glass with integrated blinds, which meant each glass unit had to be 2 ⅛” thick – a size that simply can’t be accommodated by most curtain wall systems on the market. Most curtain walls from competitors are limited to glass around one inch thick.

The ViuLite installations were also extremely difficult to reach, but after determining the roof’s load bearing weight and adding additional protections, a scissor lift was able to be safely placed on the building’s roof.

Despite the challenges, however, these installations now provide superior air tightness, water tightness, thermal insulation, and sound insulation between floors that exceed the project’s minimum specifications, along with dazzling natural light and patient privacy/tranquility.