Project Details
Project Description
The Terrence Donnelly Health Sciences Complex at the University of Toronto Mississauga accommodates teaching and research facilities for three primary user groups: the new Mississauga Academy of Medicine, Department of Biomedical Communications and Department of Anthropology and Forensics. The program at TDHSC includes video conference-ready lecture theatres, classrooms, seminar rooms, faculty and administrative offices, and instructional and research laboratories.
Each of the user groups at TDHSC have distinct space, adjacency and identity requirements. The massing scheme resulted from the notion of stacked ‘boxes’ where each ‘box’ is sized to best facilitate desired program adjacency requirements with a focus on maximizing views and access to daylight. The interstitial outdoor spaces between the stacked ‘boxes’ accommodate terraces and roof gardens – the teaching spaces, offices and laboratories float on greenery.
The stainless steel cladding panels follow an arithmetic sequence of angles that impose a varied appearance to the exterior that acknowledges the Campus’ natural setting and directs views from the interior for a 360 degree panorama. The faceted facades capture both natural and ambient artificial light ensuring its landmark presence is articulated 24/7.
The site has sloped terrain rising up from the Outer Circle Road, and will landmark the entrance to a future Academic Quadrangle. The shifting ’boxes’ accentuate the soft landscape to the east, south, and west while the building’s north face provides a formal façade to the future Academic Quadrangle.
TDHSC has been designed for LEED Gold certification and employs a number of sustainsable design strategies in keeping with the University of Toronto’s mandate for sustainable building, including: stainless steel cladding panels that minimize solar gain at glazed areas; reflective properties of the panels and their configuration has a bioclimatic effect – in the summer, solar heat is deflected from the envelope and in the winter warm air trapped within the panels provides an insulating blanket of tempered air around the building; roof gardens are populated with indigenous plants and an in-ground irrigation system to minimize water usage; grey water collection; and a tree relocation and site neutralization strategy.
TDHSC creatively and innovatively provides a facility for the University of Toronto that presents an image commensurate with both the professional practive of medicine and while maintaining a playful air suitable for a learning environment. TDHSC advocates locally educating medical students to increase the number of practicing physicians in the Mississauga community.
The University of Toronto Mississauga Campus has a history of forward-thinking design, and is composed of several award winning buildings. TDHSC has been designed to uphold the tradition of design excellence that the campus currently enjoys.