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ON THE COVER: Mass-timber complex lands at Trinity College (Jan. 2025)

February 12th, 2025 · No Comments

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A potential pathway to sustainability

The Lawson Centre for Sustainability is the second timber-build the University of Toronto is erecting on Devonshire Place between Varsity Stadium and Trinity College. Architectural rendering by Mecanno courtesy of Trinity College

By Austin Kelly

The Lawson Centre for Sustainability at Trinity College will be a learning and residential complex that focuses on the environment.

Part of the University of Toronto’s St. George Campus, Trinity’s Lawson Centre is a four-storey building that will serve as both a learning centre and a residential space. It will be a multi-use, zero-carbon space that will help the college reach its goal of eco-friendliness.

The complex, currently under construction on Devonshire Place, was designed by Dutch architectural firm Mecanoo and the local firm RDHA. On its website, Mecanoo outlines the specifics of the Lawson Centre’s functions and features:

“The student residence houses 262 units and 342 beds, combining a mixed arrangement of studios, single and double dorm typologies, of which 15 per cent are barrier-free.” The Mecanoo website describes the design as having a high-performing envelope featuring geothermal heating and cooling, solar panels, and rainwater collection. 

The project will result in a high-performance LEED Platinum and CaGBC zero-carbon building and is a major step in Trinity’s Integrated Sustainability Initiative.

Nicholas Terpstra, provost and vice-chancellor at Trinity College, said the building’s green planning was important to the design. “We knew from the start that Trinity College’s new academic and residence building had to be an innovative sustainability building, and the best way to achieve this was through locally sourced mass-timber construction. The “mass” is created using composite manufacturing of smaller wood pieces tied together. Working with our architects Mecanoo and RDHA, Graham Construction, and project partners, every aspect of the Lawson Centre for Sustainability has been thoughtfully planned to truly embody sustainability.”

Trinity College began initiating its sustainability goals in 2019 with a donation of $10 million  from Brian and Joannah Lawson as a part of the college’s Living Trinity program. Lawson is the chancellor of Trinity College, as well as an alumnus.

The school aims to raise an additional $7 million by 2025 to help support the building of the Lawson Centre. 

Terpstra said the design is an innovation in sustainable building planning: “What makes the Lawson Centre for Sustainability unique is that it features all the major sustainability components in one facility, including a geothermal exchange system and a rooftop farm. In addition, almost all major building materials are sourced in Ontario including mass timber, compressed bricks and limestone. It is also one of the first uses of mass timber for residential construction.”

Mass timber is a rapidly growing building material for eco-friendly architectural projects. A type of wood, mass timber has replaced steel in some builds as an alternative that uses less carbon emissions and is also more energy efficient.

In Toronto, mass timber has been used in numerous projects in recent years including the University of Toronto’s John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design. A 14-storey mass-timber building on Devonshire Place, called the Academic Wood Tower, will be Canada’s largest mass-timber building upon completion. In June, Toronto city council approved a 31-storey skyscraper at College and Henry streets that would potentially be the tallest  wooden structure in Canada.

Geosource Energy helped design green infrastructure for the project and installed the geothermal heating and cooling system. Paulina Barnes, director of sales and marketing for Geosource, said the “installation included the drilling of 57 vertical boreholes to a depth of 637 feet. The geothermal system utilizes the earth as a thermal battery, providing onsite renewable heating and cooling, thereby significantly reducing operating carbon emissions.”

The building is projected to be completed around 2025, earlier than the original projected date of 2026, when the building’s planning started back in 2020.

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