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DECEMBER 2019 | 55 York Region Administrative Centre Annex RENDERINGS BY WZMH ARCHITECTS/COURTESY THE REGIONAL MUNICIPALITY OF YORK York Region Administrative Centre Annex by ROBIN BRUNET D espite being 430,000 square feet in size, the new York Region Administrative Centre Annex with its abundance of glazing and spectac- ular open atrium is almost delicate in appearance – a striking counterpart to the wavy architecture of the adjacent administrative headquarters. From a programming perspec- tive, the Annex brings under one roof a variety of government departments that previously had been scattered throughout the Newmarket commu- nity in leased or owned buildings, many of them in poor repair. In 2005, York Region Council approved a master plan that recom- mended the construction of a single eight-storey facility for community, health, housing, courts, and other services. It estimated that the consol- idation would achieve a $26 million savings over a 30-year period. York Region Council then decided to locate the Annex on land it owned at the northwest corner of Yonge and Eagle streets, and to link it with a pedestrian bridge to the administrative centre in order to create a civic campus and cen- tral node for public services. WZMH Architects won an RFP for the design of the Annex in 2010. "We designed four options, evaluated them for function, cost, esthetics, and sus- tainability, and presented them to the client group," says Len Abelman, prin- cipal at WZMH. "In 2012, York Region Council selected one of the concepts for the project to proceed." WZMH wanted the Annex to look as contemporary as possible, "to reflect the age in which it is constructed," accord- ing to Abelman. Given that the Annex would be adjacent to the curving facades of the Douglas Cardinal-designed administrative centre, "We designed a more rectilinear building with 90-degree corners as they create more functional interior spaces; however, we repeated the curves of the existing building in our landscape design and chose a blue colour glass as a reference to our neighbour," says Abelman. Much time and effort was spent making the user experience of the Annex as comfortable as possible. This led the architects to create an eight- storey atrium facing Yonge Street "to fill the entire building with light," says Abelman. "We also used this as a way- finding element so that no matter where people are in the building, they will have views to the atrium and not feel lost in a maze – as is sometimes the case in other government buildings." WZMH selected the main exterior finishes of glass and aluminum curtain wall, plus metal and precast concrete panels. "Some of the exterior glazing has a fritted pattern for design and also to reduce glare into the main spaces," says Abelman. To help achieve a LEED Silver desig- nation, the architects relied on Nedlaw Living Walls to create a large living wall biofilter inside the atrium; floor plates were designed to be narrower, with enclosed offices on the inside of the building and open plan work sta- tions along the outside. "This ensured access to light and views for office visi- tors and staff," explains Abelman. The HIDI Group provided mechani- cal and plumbing elements including air handling systems, heat recovery and energy conservation, heating and cooling systems, building automa- tion, and storm water drainage. Green roofs were included on lower building roofs to reduce heat build up and storm water run-off. Ground broke on the project in November of 2016, and one of EllisDon Corporation's main challenges was to erect a full scaffold with platforms and elevators in order to build the atrium. "The scaffold was over 110-feet high and definitely one of the largest we've ever used," says Adriano Mazzorato, project manager for EllisDon. The builders also constructed an elevated ring road around the site to ensure the protection of natural wetlands and a creek in the vicinity. "Bioswales in the parking area gath- ered rainwater from the concrete areas and slowly released it, which was for- tunate because we encountered very heavy downpours in the summer of 2017," says Mazzorato. EllisDon waited until winter to build the structural steel pedestrian bridge to the administrative building. "The bridge spanned the wetlands and creek, so it was better for that area to freeze over in order to mitigate disturbance to the environment," explains Mazzorato. As of November the York Region Administrative Centre Annex was nearing completion, and an 83-foot structure was being manufactured by Nedlaw Living Walls to support the planting of the atrium's living wall biofilter. "No other company in North America or Europe supplies living walls that are biofilters," says Adam Holder, Nedlaw's sales and client rela- tions manager. "Our walls pull polluted air into the root zones of the plants and then return the cleansed air via a ple- num attached to the HVAC system. "The plants we use are optimized for VOC removal, and in terms of main- tenance all they need is adequate light and irrigation." Holder adds that York's living wall biofilter will take 10 days to complete in December and for each square metre will cleanse the air of 10 square metres of space. Mazzorato echoed the sentiments of all involved in the project by remark- ing, "York Region is great to work for because its people are very knowledge- able about design and construction; and despite the complexity of this proj- ect, everything flowed very well. The building should be fully operational by next spring." A LOCATION 17150 Yonge Street, Newmarket, Ontario OWNER/DEVELOPER The Regional Municipality of York ARCHITECT WZMH Architects GENERAL CONTRACTOR EllisDon Corporation STRUCTURAL CONSULTANT Entuitive MECHANICAL CONSULTANT The HIDI Group ELECTRICAL CONSULTANT Mulvey & Banani BUILDING ENVELOPE CONSULTANT BVDA Facade Engineering TOTAL SIZE 422,000 square feet CONSTRUCTION COST $172 million 2019-07-18 12:07 PM 11/14/19 10:51 AM p54-55_YorkAdminCentre.indd 55 2019-11-27 1:39 PM

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