Completion of Ontario College’s carbon neutral building
Toronto-based DIALOG has completed the expansion of Building A at Centennial College in Scarborough, Ontario.
Designed in collaboration with Smoke Architecture, the team describes it as “the first LEED Gold,
carbon-neutral, WELL-certified mass timber and higher education facility,”
The newly completed scheme “seamlessly blends Indigenous perspectives, sustainability and innovative architecture.”
The project provides 133,000 square feet of new construction in addition to 16,000 square feet of existing renovations.
Paying homage to Indigenous traditions and nature-inspired sustainability, this scheme is rooted in the Mi’kmaq concept of “seeing with the eyes,”
which “reconciles indigenous wisdom with Western perspectives.”
Inspired by how traditional Anishinaabe Wigwams are designed with their skin pulled up in the summer for air circulation,
The team incorporated the same concept for the building envelope at the corner of the building.
The building’s facade features a mix of contemporary materials and local reflections.
With aluminum panels in the shape of fish scales and detailed with contemporary parametric programmes.
Design features
At the heart of the plan is the Indigenous Commons:
a dome-shaped social and performance space influenced by the principles of the Anishinaabe Roundhouse and “connecting the building to the earth and sky.”
According to the team, the design of the space is also “in keeping with the teachings of the Sacred Medicine Wheel,”
Celebrating a constant cycle of growth, balance and unity with the inclusion of elements such as Balance Centerstone (basalt bases that symbolize balance)
and the indigenous commons (a dome designed based on Anishinaabe principles of the round).”
“What was refreshing about this project was Centennial College’s requirement that the design be rooted in an Indigenous concept of natural systems and the poetry of Indigenous culture,
” said DIALOG partner Craig Applegath.
“The idea of an Indigenous narrative was important to the team,
and inspired key elements of the design that were thought through this lens.”
The scheme relies heavily on mass timber, chosen to symbolically align with Aboriginal teaching housing built from renewable, fast-growing saplings.
The structural system uses sustainably assembled timber columns and beams that support the interlocking timber floor panels.
Meanwhile, 5% of the building’s energy needs are powered by renewable solar PV.
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