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Diamond Schmitt and Lemay Michaud have revealed their collaborative design for McGill University’s New Vic Project—an ambitious $870 million transformation of Montreal’s historic Royal Victoria Hospital site.

Set to open its doors in 2027, the 46,451-m² (500,000-sf) revitalization aims to become an international hub for interdisciplinary research and teaching, focusing on sustainability systems and public policy. The design not only aims to celebrate the site’s historical significance, but also provides critical infrastructure for McGill’s innovative vision.

The architectural approach prioritizes sustainability, aiming for LEED gold and WELL gold environmental standards. The design will integrate skylit interior courts to connect heritage buildings, creating atria suffused with natural light. These open spaces serve as a crossroads, fostering collaboration among researchers from different disciplines—an embodiment of McGill’s commitment to academic innovation.

Pierre Major, executive director of the New Vic Project, praised the design as a model for repurposing heritage spaces while embracing sustainable principles. The project’s “living lab” model organizes spaces based on activities rather than departments, encouraging collaboration and adaptability.

The roofscape, designed as an accessible, landscaped counterpoint to Mount Royal, features terraced green roofs and gardens, offering space for research, teaching, and gatherings overlooking the McGill campus and city beyond. Aiming to harmonize with the rooflines of the heritage buildings and the site’s steep topography, the landscaping will create new public paths and green spaces that restore access to the mountain and connect the steeper and more dramatic slopes of Mount Royal Park to McGill’s campus and the city centre.

The design expands on Olmsted’s original vision for the site, a gentle slope mediating between the built city and the natural mountain, by extending the topography and local flora of Mount Royal into the grounds of the RVH.

Sustainability considerations include low carbon systems, high-performance wall envelopes, and a geothermal array providing a significant portion of the building’s heating load. Other sustainability considerations in the design include the strategic and careful deconstruction of the slab structures with the goal of recovering and reusing a significant portion of the buildings’ limestone while repurposing the balance.

Collaborating closely with the Société Québécoise des Infrastructures (SQI), the project team has also worked with the Ville de Montréal, Arrondissement de Ville-Marie, and the Ministère de la Culture et des Communications to address planning and heritage considerations.