The therapeutic effects of art cannot be denied and the newly unveiled Centre Hospitalier de l’Université de Montréal (Chum) is taking the idea to a whole new level. Quebecois law requires 1 per cent of all construction budgets to go towards public art but the CannonDesign and Neuf Architectes-designed hospital really emptied its coffers for the artistic cause. The building features 13 artworks by local artists, which makes Chum “the largest concentration of public art in Montréal since the International and Universal Exposition in 1967,” according to Azad Chichmanian, partner at Neuf. The oeuvre spans from neo-baroque benches to an eight-storey glass façade that depicts mountain peaks by artists Mathieu Doyon and Simon Rivest. The idea was to showcase local artists but first and foremost to provide comfort to patients.