{"id":12460,"date":"2023-01-31T13:25:34","date_gmt":"2023-01-31T21:25:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/refinements-made-to-dawes-road-library-redevelopment-plan\/"},"modified":"2023-01-31T13:25:35","modified_gmt":"2023-01-31T21:25:35","slug":"refinements-made-to-dawes-road-library-redevelopment-plan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/refinements-made-to-dawes-road-library-redevelopment-plan\/","title":{"rendered":"Refinements Made to Dawes Road Library Redevelopment Plan"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Toronto\u2019s Perkins&Will<\/a> (P&W), with Smoke Architecture<\/a>, a growing indigenous-led Hamilton firm, are wrapping up working drawings for the rebuilding of the Dawes Road Branch of the Toronto Public Library (TPL) in the Woodbine Gardens area of East York. The existing branch and 6-unit condo on the site now will close and construction will start later this year. P&W\u2019s project lead Architect Andrew Frontini has given UrbanToronto an update on the design, since we covered this<\/a> last summer.<\/p>\n

Looking north to the Dawes Road Library Redevelopment, designed by Perkins&Will and Smoke Architecture<\/span><\/p>\n

The new 3-storey, 26,300 ft\u00b2 facility replaces an aging library for new needs. It\u00a0features a plaza at street level, a youth hub on the second floor, and a rooftop garden and community spaces on the top floor. The building is\u00a0symbolically wrapped in an indigenous star blanket,\u00a0a traditional gift showing support and respect for the community and ancestors.<\/p>\n

The recent site plan submission indicates simplified utility lines and services, increased permeable surfaces and landscaping, and seating areas, creating a generous outdoor plaza for gathering. The building commands the street corner at Dawes Road and Chapman Street and offers a gracious front entry.<\/p>\n

Looking northwest to the redeveloped library; the landscape design creates an integrated public realm from the building to the curb, designed by Perkins&Will and Smoke Architecture<\/span><\/p>\n

The building is clad with overlapping parallelogram shingles of zinc. The architects worked with suppliers in a Design-assist capacity to detail the envelope and bring a sculptural expression to its form, \u201creally optimizing the compound curves so it looks organic but is more simply built.\u201d The building envelope is curved in one dimension, in plan rather than in plan and in section, and through a process of construction optimization, they have managed to bring the envelope in on budget.<\/p>\n

The envelope is optimized in terms of performance too; high-performing with triple glazing and a low window-to-wall ratio lends the star blanket a solid appearance. Diamond-shaped windows are strategically positioned and integrated into its pattern. Inviting views and daylight, larger glazing is used in key locations: overlooking the garden, at street level where the blanket is \u2018lifted\u2019, at the east-facing atrium, where the blanket \u2018peeks open\u2019.<\/p>\n

The warmth of the wood of the \u2018interior face of the blanket\u2019 envelops the two-storey high performance space<\/span><\/p>\n

New interior renderings show a more fully developed concept. The interior face of the blanket is expressed using a wood paneling that echoes the exterior diamond-shaped modules. \u201cThe wood liner helps one to understand the continuity of the blanket as a kind of fluid organic, exterior envelope,\u201d notes Frontini. \u201cLike a quilt, it has a pattern on the outside and is neutral on the backside, but you see that stitching through. It’s the same structure, but it’s a different expression.\u201d<\/p>\n

The programming of the roof level as a teaching and gathering space is central. It is anchored by a roundhouse, a circular ceremonial gathering space for the community, indigenous and others. It connects to a City of Toronto Community Hub, which offers meeting and consultation rooms,\u00a0and a learning kitchen. Sharing many of the same patrons, like after-school youth, the\u00a0hub has a synergy with the library, speaking to community needs. The spaces open onto a lush rooftop garden with a ceremonial fire pit.<\/p>\n

The top floor blends library and community support programs, including Learning Kitchen and Roof Garden, designed by Perkins&Will and Smoke Architecture<\/span><\/p>\n

The TPL aspires to achieve some of the City\u2019s highest sustainability goals, targeting a net zero carbon building, working with a combination of electrification of systems, air source heat pumps, and photovoltaics. \u201cThe TPL deserves kudos for structuring a brief that was so clear about what they wanted: a net zero carbon operational building and an Indigenous Architect on the design team. It\u2019s not just lip service\u2026 the success of the project really begins with that commitment on the client side,\u201d says Frontini.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s an interesting period in time when there’s increasing demand to integrate indigenous perspectives into the built environment,\u201d adds Frontini. This partnership brings together two very different firm cultures: P&W, an established institutional firm of 100 (as part of a global firm of 3,000), and Smoke Architecture, an emerging Indigenous practice, with a half a dozen people. This project provides an example of how firms and communities can co-create, uncovering and cementing much overlap in perspectives: Smoke fuses indigenous ways of knowing and thinking about space in the use of it, and P&W brings what it calls its \u2018living design framework\u2019, a kind of holistic sustainability approach. Aligned in their vision, both sides have learned a lot from each other.<\/p>\n

The library is scheduled to welcome patrons in late 2025 or early 2026.<\/p>\n

The Roof Garden at the Dawes Road Library Redevelopment, designed by Perkins&Will and Smoke Architecture<\/span><\/p>\n

UrbanToronto will continue to follow progress on this development, but in the meantime, you can learn more about it from our Database file, linked below. If you’d like, you can join in on the conversation in the associated Project Forum thread or leave a comment in the space provided on this page.<\/p>\n

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UrbanToronto has a research service,\u00a0UrbanToronto Pro<\/a>, that provides comprehensive data on construction projects in the Greater Toronto Area\u2014from proposal through to completion. We also offer\u00a0Instant\u00a0Reports<\/a>, downloadable snapshots based on location, and a daily subscription newsletter,\u00a0New Development Insider<\/a>, that tracks projects from initial application.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n