Toronto Botanical Garden

LEED Silver pavilion furthers mission of environmental stewardship

The dramatic lantern effect at night reveals the steel frame sculptural form

The Toronto Botanical Garden [TBG] is a charitable organization whose purpose is to inspire passion, respect and understanding of gardening, horticulture, the natural landscape and a healthy environment.
Five years ago, the Board of Directors embarked on a plan to develop the 1.6 hectare site into a horticultural centre for the City of Toronto with the intention of creating a new botanical garden and adding to and renovating their existing buildings.
Completed in 2005 the new addition [The George and Kathy Dembroski Centre for Horticulture] expands on two existing linked buildings designed by Raymond Moriyama [1964] and Jerome Markson [1976]. The revitalization includes an expanded library, administrative offices, a store, a children’s centre and upgraded meeting areas.
The 360 sq. m. addition and renovation brings all the major public functions to the ground floor level making them universally accessible, and presents the store as a prominent pavilion in the park. The pavilion is positioned to create a series of garden courts directly related to interior public spaces, and effectively brings the gardens closer to the activities inside the building.
The new fritted glass pavilion is designed as a sculptural form, mute and calm during the day and taking on the more dramatic appearance of a lantern in the evening. Although it creates a new ‘front door’ to the facility, it remains deferential to the gardens. A western red cedar trellis with planting across the front provides sun protection to the clear glass at the ground floor of the store.
Steel beams and columns, deck and open-web steel joists were chosen as the primary structural material as it made connection to the existing steel frame structures more straightforward. All steel components were also available from a local source only 70 km from the site. Within the structure, a straightforward material palette of slate floors, carpet tile, reused stone and gypsum board walls and fritted glass windows creates clean and simple spaces with ample natural daylight.
The building addition was designed to achieve LEED [Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design] Silver accreditation, consistent with the Toronto Botanical Garden’s mission of advocating stewardship of the natural environment through responsible gardening and horticultural excellence. In addition to its LEED silver rating, the building was also awarded the Green Toronto Award for Design.
Key sustainable features include:

• A green roof that reduces the typical heat island effects and helps to control stormwater runoff.
• High performance windows with fritting and sun shading to reduce summer heat gain.
• Use of locally manufactured materials and reuse of materials from the demolition of a section of the existing building.
• Implementation of a waste management plan to divert 75% of the project’s construction waste from landfill.
• An erosion and sedimentation plan developed and implemented during construction to reduce the loss of soil due to wind, rain and construction activities.
• Reduction of potable water use for plant irrigation by the provision of cisterns to store rain water collected from the roof of the addition and storm drains within the site boundary.
• Optimizing energy performance to attain energy savings of 33% on an annual basis compared to a building designed to the Model National Energy Code.
• Majority of the materials used to construct the building contained recycled content.
• Low/zero-emitting VOC building finishes and components.
• Maximizing the use of natural light and the use of opening windows.
• Green building education and housekeeping programs.

The ‘landmark’ green building addition has helped create a new identity for the TBG. Bookings for the building have increased significantly, as have garden shop sales, rentals, memberships and volunteer involvement. The Toronto Botanical Garden has also profited from new or enhanced relationships with George Brown College, Ryerson University, Landscape Ontario, horticultural groups, and the general public.

Credits

• Architect: Montgomery Sisam Architects Inc., Toronto
• Project/Construction Manager: Dalton Engineering & Construction Limited, Toronto
• Structural: Blackwell Bowick Partnership Limited, Toronto
• Mechanical: Rybka Smith & Ginsler Limited, Toronto
• Electrical: Rybka Smith & Ginsler Limited, Toronto
• Sustainability: Enermodal Engineering, Waterloo, ON
• Structural Steel: M&G Steel Limited, Mississauga, ON
• Landscape Design: PMA Landscape Architects and Thomas Sparling Inc., Toronto
• Entry Garden: Martin Wade Landscape Architects with Piet Oudolf
• Planting Design: Paul Ehnes, Horticulturalist, Toronto

Materials

• Frame: Steel beams and columns, deck and open-web steel joists, with allcomponents sourced from within 70 km of the site.
• Exterior: Aluminum curtain wall with glazing and fritted glass, Soprema system green roof, western red cedar shade trellis with steel column supports
• Interior: Slate floors, reused stone and gypsum board walls finished with low VOC paint, Interface recyclable carpet tile at second level.

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