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Architects: Kongats Architects
- Area: 6 m²
- Year: 2011
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Photographs:Shai Gill
Text description provided by the architects. The Terrence Donnelly Health Sciences Complex at the University of TorontoMississauga accommodates teaching and research facilities for the new medicalschool to be based at the Mississauga campus. The campus is known for theintimate relationship it has with its beautiful natural setting and its forward-thinking design.
The functional programming of TDHSC supports three primary user groups: the newMississauga Academy of Medicine, the Department of Biomedical Communicationsand the Department of Anthropology and Forensics. The program at TDHSC includesvideo conference-ready lecture theatres, classrooms, seminar rooms, faculty andadministrative offices, and instructional and research laboratories.
Each of the three user groups has very distinct space, adjacency and identityrequirements. A series of stacked ‘boxes,’ where each ‘box’ shrinks or enlargesfrom floor to floor to best facilitate desired program adjacency requirementswhile maximizing views and access to daylight. The outdoor spaces createdbetween the stacked ‘boxes’ accommodate accessible terraces overlookinggardens of indigenous planting. The teaching, office spaces and laboratoriesfloat in greenery.
TDHSC is situated on sloped terrain rising up from the outer campus Ring Road,and will landmark the entrance to a future proposed Academic Quad. The shiftingfloor plates of TDHSC accentuate the soft landscape to the east south and westwhile the building’s north face, in its vertical uniformity, will provide a formal façadeto the Academic Quad. The faceted stainless steel façades capture both naturaland ambient artificial light ensuring its landmark presence is articulated 24/7.
The configuration of the stainless steel panels is determined by an arithmeticsequence of angles 15-30-60-90 that imposes both a varied appearance to thecladding that acknowledges the Campus’ admired natural setting and strategicallyminimizes solar gain at the glazed areas. The reflective properties of the stainlesssteel panels and their configuration also has a bioclimatic benefit; in the summersolar heat is deflected from the building envelope and in the winter the warm airtrapped within the panels provides an insulating blanket of tempered air aroundthe building envelope.
In keeping with the University of Toronto’s mandate for sustainable building, theHealth Sciences Complex has been designed for LEED Gold certification.
Significant sustainable design features are as follows:
- The TD HSC will be provided with direct access to public transit. In the futurethe existing surface parking on the north portion of the construction site will beeliminated and replaced by the proposed Academic Quad.
- The TD HSC is serviced by a central district energy plant eliminating the requirementfor independent boilers, chillers and cooling towers. The district energy sourcereduces both the physical and carbon footprint of the building and the noiselevels associated with exterior cooling tower on a site designated as the campus’principal public realm.
- The University of Toronto Mississauga Campus is situated within the CreditRiver watershed. The University has demonstrated a commitment to effectivelymanaging storm water run-off to the Credit River through a series of retentionponds. The TD HSC’s storm water management design will further minimize thebuilding’s impact on the existing storm water infrastructure by the employmentof vegetative roofs to control storm water run-off and storm water cisterns to utilizegray water for all washrooms.
- The TD HSC will be constructed of building materials where the post-consumerand post-industrial recycled content exceeds 15%. The project will also divertmore than 75% of its construction waste from landfill sites to recycling facilities.
- The TD HSC’s exterior envelope is designed as a dual skin system; an insulatedand water tight primary skin and a independent second outer skin to reduceheat gain utilizing stainless steel panels to reflect heat and exterior louvers toshade glazed areas.
- The TDHSC’s individual floor plates are proportioned to ensure all permanentlyoccupied offices are provided with operable windows for natural ventilation.All lecture theatres, classrooms, labs, seminar rooms and public corridors haveaccess to direct or borrowed natural light.
- All occupied spaces will be provided with have individual lighting occupancysensors and controls.
- All occupied spaces will be provided with individual heating and coolingcontrols.
- The TD HSC is equipped to reclaim heat from all mechanical exhaust air systemsincluding lab exhaust air.
