The Mississauga Library Project is an adaptive re-use strategy for the major renovation and addition to the Lakeview, Port Credit, and Lorne Park branch libraries, all dating from between 1956 and 1967. The three renovations have been structured as one project, a strategy put forth by the client as a means to use public infrastructure stimulus funds in an efficient manner. Each of the three libraries are situated in park settings; Lakeview and Lorne Park are embedded within established 1950’s suburban neighborhoods and Port Credit is situated adjacent to the Credit River along Lakeshore Road, the commercial ‘high’ street of the old town of Port Credit.
Article source: Christopher Simmonds Architect Inc.
The linear composition of this house and site is interrupted by the volumes of lightwells, stairs and courtyard. The resulting interpenetration of views, light and space along the south side of the home result in strong indoor / outdoor connections.
Located in Canada’s beautiful Muskoka region, the Carling Residence was built for a young couple looking to leave the city behind. The 3600 square foot home is set into a rustic forest on the shores of the Georgian Bay. The clients’ aspiration for their new permanent residence was to create a comfortable, modern and sustainable home that would respect, and become part of, the terrain of their 26-acre lot.
The Prince Arthur’s Landing project has transformed the City of Thunder Bay’s waterfront into a mixed-use village and highly animated waterfront park that reconnects the downtown to the shores of Lake Superior. The waterfront officially opened to the public on December 16th, 2011, and has since seen record attendance and continues to be met with overwhelming industry acclaim and community support.
Article source: Zeidler Partnership Architects and Snøhetta
Designed by the architectural team of Zeidler and Snøhetta the stunning new building will provide Ryerson students with an outstanding environment to study, collaborate and discover. The eight-storey Student Learning Centre marks Ryerson’s new face on Yonge Street. It will feature a glass façade, an elevated plaza, a bridge to the existing library and a range of academic, study and collaborative spaces for Ryerson’s students, faculty and staff. Yonge Street frontage will feature destination retail at and below grade, creating a prominent commercial façade.
Tags: Canada, Ontario Comments Off on Ryerson University Student Learning Centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada by Zeidler Partnership Architects and Snøhetta
Mohawk College’s Fennell Campus developed organically over 30 years with multiple buildings incorporated in a functional manner, resulting in a complex plan without clear organization. When the firm was awarded the project, the College’s direction was to provide a Learning Commons / Library, and introduce a central organization to the campus. The result is a design, which provides a strong north-south link, from the new Fennell street entrance through the existing campus to the current main entrance at the south parking areas.
General Contractor /Construction Manager: Sub-contractors acquired by Mohawk College
Structural Engineers : Halcrow Yolles
Mechanical Engineers : MCW Consultants LTD
Electrical Engineers : MCW Consultants LTD
Image Courtesy Tom Arban
The courtyards are linked with pedestrian paths and landscaped with student movement in mind. Beneath the windmill generators, grassy sitting areas and pedestrian scale lighting are incorporated into the design, resulting in an outdoor space, which reinforces the College’s image as a “community-facing, modern and sustainable college”. (President Rob MacIsaac).
Image Courtesy Tom Arban
Area: 40,000 square feet
Completion: January 2011
Cost: $14.5 million
Client: Mohawk College
Sustainability Goals: LEED Gold
Annual energy consumption MJ / M2 year = 687 MJ / M2 year
Percentage of recycled content: 15%
Water consumption from municipal sources = litres / occupant / year = 8.2 M3
Image Courtesy Tom Arban
The impact on the site was reduced through a landscaping plan, which incorporates hearty, native species. This allows for minimal use of water, fertilizer, and pesticides on the green roof.
Image Courtesy Tom Arban
Heating is provided through a hydronic piping system embedded in the concrete slabs. This configuration takes advantage of the thermal mass of the slab itself, which allows for an even distribution of heat throughout the space. Additionally, as heat is radiated from below, the natural effects of convection ensures that the heat is provided directly to the occupied zone in the space (ie: near the floor), rather than from diffusers in the ceilings. This reduces fan power, energy consumption and dependence on fossil fuels.
Image Courtesy Tom Arban
Vibrantly coloured glazing creates a sense of warmth and contrast in the quiet student gathering and learning spaces. The brightly lit interior guides the students towards the building from the street on frigid winter days.
Image Courtesy Tom Arban
In the interior spaces daylight is maximized by incorporating glazing throughout the building, which reduces the use of electric lighting and saves on operating costs. Additionally, all lighting is equipped with either daylight sensors or occupancy sensors, or both, ensuring that the building responds to environmental and occupant conditions.
Image Courtesy Tom Arban
Close to 75% of the building provides usable space for students and staff. In an average building between 40- 50% is usable space. The creation of quiet learning spaces for students was a priority Mohawk students identified on key performance indicator surveys. The new library represents Mohawk’s vision to inspire learning, citizenship and innovation. Inspired by the ways in which modern mobile technology influence “plugged-in learning,” the spaces within the collaboratorium are flexible and fully wired to accommodate current technology. As part of the overall campus revitalization, the library forms the heart of its creative culture that will drive new generations of tomorrow’s skilled leaders.
Image Courtesy Tom Arban
The design established a new vernacular for the campus. Future renovation projects will build upon this ‘street’ framework and extend the architectural language established in the Mohawk Learning Exchange through the premises, creating clear circulation routes and an understandable, complete campus.
Image Courtesy Tom Arban
Project Specifications
A 30,000 sf, two-storey “link” building to be the iconic new image of the campus on Fennell. The new learning exchange building will connect to three existing surrounding buildings and will include 10, 60-seat classrooms and an E-Learning Centre. It will be minimum LEED Gold and will be on an extremely fast-track schedule.
Elevation
The interior of the building is primarily concrete to reduce the use of raw materials. Concrete was selected as the primary construction material for its durability and finishing characteristics.
Top View
Low-emitting adhesives, coatings, sealants, paints, and carpets were used to ensure optimal air quality.
A living wall graces the main entrance and acts as both a focal point and as a natural bio-filter, removing carbon dioxide and other contaminates from return air.
lower_level_plan
Heating is provided through a hydronic piping system embedded in the concrete slabs. This configuration takes advantage of the thermal mass of the slab itself, which allows for an even distribution of heat throughout the space. Additionally, as heat is radiated from below, the natural effects of convection ensures that the heat is provided directly to the occupied zone in the space (ie: near the floor), rather than from diffusers in the ceilings. This reduces fan power, energy consumption and dependence on fossil fuels.
upper_level_plan
In the interior spaces daylight is maximized by incorporating glazing throughout the building, which reduces the use of electric lighting and saves on operating costs. Additionally, all lighting is equipped with either daylight sensors, occupancy sensors, or both, ensuring that the building responds to environmental and occupant conditions.
The transformation of the west wing of the Art Gallery of Ontario into The Weston Family Learning Centre punctuates the museum’s ambitious multi-phased renovation. The new Learning Centre offers a major collaborative hub for community creativity and learning, while increasing the AGO’S ability to provide stellar art education for children, families, and adults of all ages. It houses a community gallery, a hands-on centre for young children and their parents, three seminar rooms, an education commons, a youth centre for young adults, and an artist-in-residence studio.
We were given the task to design a single storey building, the ubiquitous factory / warehouse building with front office. A dissection of the program provided us with a simple theme. By nature of its program, the building consists of two independent spaces. The heart and soul of the building is the letter carriers sortation facility, a function likely defined as ‘blue collar’ and not far from functioning and appearing just like that of a “factory”.
On February 29th in Las Vegas, Jump Branding & Design Inc. captured two Association for Retail Environments (A.R.E.) Sustainability Awards for their design of the South St. Burger Co. at Bayview Village in Toronto (Ontario, Canada). The seven year old branding and design agency won the coveted 2012 Sustainable Project of the Year and the 2012 Grand Prize Tenant Improvement awards for the restaurant design.
Set on the Cliff-side of a much-cherished lake, this cottage seeks to enhance the extraordinary surrounding scenery through the thoughtful integration of building elements with the natural assets of the site and terrain. This dwelling emerges form the rock formation of the cliff using the same local granite to form its base. A central core acts as an anchor that circulates movement, light and air into the living spaces that pinwheel and cantilever off into the landscape. In spite of its modest scale, the residence easily accommodates the family of four by providing amenity for dinning, cooking, living, reading and sleeping which are each carefully tuned to the unique view, light and breezes of the cliff. To balance the heavy mass derived from the fireplaces; cantilevered volumes, flying roofs and floor to ceiling glass are used to achieve a lightness of form as it works to bring the lake into the living spaces.
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