Daniels Public Lecture | Healthcare Design that Makes a Difference: Insights from Foster + Partners

Architect Chris West is a partner at Foster + Partners in the practice’s New York office. West is currently leading the design of Bold. Forward. Unbound., a multiyear, $5 billion strategic infrastructure initiative by the Mayo Clinic to completely redesign its downtown Rochester, Minnesota campus and integrate advanced digital and physical healthcare models.

West graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1986 and from Rice University in 1994. He has been with Foster + Partners for over thirty years, initially working on the design of a mixed-use scheme for the King Faisal Foundation in Riyadh. Since then, he has built an extensive portfolio of world-class projects. He was involved in the design of both the Center for Clinical Science Research and the James H. Clark Center at Stanford University and relocated to California to oversee its construction. Following this, he led the design teams for the University of Iowa Stead Family Children’s Hospital, the Yale School of Management, and the Clifton Center for Medical Breakthroughs at the University of Pennsylvania.

Architecture of Health: The Annual Zeidler-Evans Lecture

The Zeidler-Evans Lecture honours Dr. John Evans, the ninth president of the University of Toronto (1972–78) and the first dean of McMaster University’s School of Medicine, and his dear friend, renowned architect Eberhard Zeidler. The annual public lecture focuses on the Architecture of Health to address complex health and design challenges that will help build stronger and more inclusive societies.

Between 1967 and 1972, Zeidler and Evans collaborated on McMaster’s Health Sciences Centre, revolutionizing hospital design and education in the process. Zeidler served as an adjunct professor in architecture at U of T from 1983 to 1995 and established the Eberhard Zeidler Scholarship with his wife Jane in 1999. The Eberhard Zeidler Library, housing 37,000 volumes in the Daniels Building, is also named in his honour.