Toronto General Hospital Organ Regeneration Laboratory

It was like playing Tetris in a fully operational operating ward." - Keith Button, Kearns Mancini Architects Inc.

The world’s first Organ Regeneration Laboratory (ORL) has been designed and built at Toronto General Hospital, the number one transplant hospital in North America. Organ regeneration is utilized when organs have undergone trauma and use a method called perfusion. Perfusion keeps the organ alive for an extended period of time to allow the surgery team time to prepare the organ for transplant.

This ‘once-in-a-lifetime’ project was carried out throughout the COVID-19 pandemic taking advantage of reduced elective surgeries to design and fit two mini-operating rooms and an islet room suitable for the team and the specialized equipment.

The ultra-sterile nature of the rooms required unique and complex mechanical systems including HEPA filters, carefully designed pressurization regimes and medical-grade air handling units. Additional challenges were encountered concerning the orientation and ergonomics of the new space, the team working closely with the end users to ensure optimization.

This project was completed within 12 months from project inception to completion.