The first mass timber academic building in Ontario is taking shape at Toronto’s Centennial College. Located at the college’s Progress Campus in Scarborough, the A-Block Expansion Building will have the potential to be the province's first net-zero carbon, mass timber, LEED Gold higher education facility when completed in 2023. 

First unveiled in February 2020, the $82 million building was designed by Canadian architecture firm Dialog, in collaboration with Smoke Architecture, and EllisDon as contractor. The design for the expansion was based on the Indigenous concept of “two-eyed seeing,” in which people view the world through an Indigenous lens with one eye or perspective, while the other eye sees through a Western lens. The new campus building aims to embody the college’s commitment to truth and reconciliation, Indigenous education, and sustainable design.

“The two perspectives amplified each other,” said Craig Applegath, Principal-in-Charge at DIALOG. “For example, the aluminum cladding was detailed with contemporary parametric software to replicate the way a fish’s scales move over its body, shifting independently yet forming a single skin. It’s incredibly functional yet also quite magical.” 

The six-story addition will provide 150,000 square feet of academic programming space for the School of Engineering Technology and Applied Science, along with administrative offices, a dining facility, a “student touchdown area,” collaborative spaces, and flexible classrooms that “support Indigenous ways of teaching and being,” according to a statement by the school.  

As described by Dialog, the level one entrance offers a clear connection from the eastern side of the site and adheres to the Anishinaabe requirement for the main entrance of a building to be from the East. The “student touchdown area” dubbed Wisdom Hall features cascading terraces and stairs that rise up through the open, double-height space.

Indigenous artwork and wood paddle-shaped panels decorate the interiors. The building also includes a domed common area designed based on the principles of the Anishinaabe roundhouse and sweat lodges. A central courtyard is included on level two. On the upper levels, the façade is defined by a repeated rhythm of polygonal punch windows inspired by the textual quality of a weave. 

For the A-Block Expansion Building, Centennial College is aiming to achieve a minimum LEED Gold Standard, WELL certification, and a net-zero, or possible net-positive, building designation. 

“Indigenous perspectives inspired our core design narratives,” said Smoke Architecture Principal Eladia Smoke. “We honor our host nations by reintroducing teachings from this territory, reinforcing relationships with the land and all our relations. Centennial College Indigenous staff and faculty worked with us to imbed these perspectives throughout, going beyond surface motifs to reach a deeper shared understanding that manifests in architectural space.”

Contractor EllisDon has set up a 24-hour live stream of the construction site, which can be viewed here.