TSA Building Tour: Academic Wood Tower

Time to put on those hard hats (Type II this time!) and lace up those safety boots, because our next TSA Building Tour is under construction! 

Join us for a special site visit as we explore the University of Toronto’s Academic Wood Tower, a 14-storey academic building built on top of the Goldring Centre for High Performance Sport and one of the tallest mass-timber hybrid structures in North America.

Designed by the same team behind the original Goldring Centre—MJMA in collaboration with Patkau Architects—the Academic Wood Tower continues the bold structural ambitions and architectural language of its predecessor, but this time in wood! When completed, the 14-storey 77-metre Tower will be one of the tallest mass timber structures in the world. Among the Tower’s numerous sustainable measures, its most salient is its near-total glue-laminated wood structure. The hybrid timber and steel structure combines steel stair cores suspended within a mass timber frame composed of glue-laminated columns, decks, bracing, and—unusual even for mass timber buildings—the elevator core.

Tour attendees will get to explore this under-construction project, learn about its unique construction, and the challenges of building such an innovative tower within a tight urban infill site. The tour will be led by representatives of MJMA Architecture + Design and Pomerleau, the construction company.

Multiple Times: To accommodate capacity and maintain site safety, there will be three opportunities to catch this tour on the event day and you can choose your preferred timeslot when registering. You MUST attend the timeslot you are registered for. No exceptions will be made.

PPE Required: All tour attendees must wear site-appropriate attire (ex: no shorts) and bring a Type II hard hat, steel toe boots, safety vest, gloves, and safety glasses. There will also be a waiver to sign. As this is an active construction site, anyone attending without the required PPE will not be allowed to participate. No exceptions will be made.

TSA Member Priority Access: This tour is 50% off for TSA Members using the promo code found in the latest TSA Bulletin or on the Member Dashboard. TSA Members also receive early access to tickets on Wednesday, August 26 at 9:00 AM. Spots remaining will then be made available to the public on September 9 at 9:00 AM. 

TSA Member discounts are non-transferable and can only be used by TSA Members in good standing. Not a member yet? Become a TSA Member today and get access to free, discounted, and exclusive member programming.

About the Project: Academic Wood Tower

The Academic Wood Tower is an ongoing expansion to the University of Toronto’s Goldring Centre for High Performance Sport. When the project team—MJMA and Patkau Architects—designed the Goldring Centre over a decade ago, they accounted for future vertical expansion while considering the steel frame and reinforced concrete foundations of the base building. The current expansion utilizes both structural features of the original building, along with its own structural system that is almost entirely made up of mass timber; this additional structure was kept exposed in order to display the continuation of the original centre’s visual language via the ‘super-bracing’ of mass timber elements. 

The design of the Academic Wood Tower was inspired by the University of Toronto’s commitment to sustainable development. Except for the steel stair cores, each prominent structural element is constructed from glue-laminated timber–even the elevator core, unusual even for mass timber buildings! This new development is full of innovative strategies that communicate the project team’s abilities to push the envelope. The 6.4m cantilever, made possible by the aforementioned ‘super-bracing’, is expressed through the facade and queues to a visual connection with Varsity Stadium. The designers also included an accessible roof terrace which will be populated with native species to aid in the collection of rainwater for onsite use in irrigation.

Learn more about this project here.

About TSA Building Tours

Designed for architects by architects, the TSA Building Tours offer unique behind-the-scenes access to recently completed or under construction buildings across the GTA. Led by the team behind their design, these tours provide an opportunity to hear the stories behind the architecture and learn about the challenges and successes in ideating and realizing the vision for the building.