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S E P T E M B E R 2 0 2 3 | 85 Passive House Student Residence – University of Toronto Scarborough P H OTO G R A P H Y CO U RT E S Y U N I V ER S I T Y O F TO RO N TO S C A R B O RO U G H ; R EN D ER I N G CO U RT E S Y H A N D EL A RC H I T EC T S PASSIVE HOUSE STUDENT RESIDENCE – UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO SCARBOROUGH by ROBIN BRUNET T he 718-bed Passive House Student Residence at the University of Toronto Scarborough (UTSC) not only advances the northward expan- sion of the University's campus, it has also been designed and built following the most rigorous sus- tainability standard in the world. Andrew Arifuzzaman, UTSC's chief administrative officer, says, "We'd looked at passive house tech- nology previously, but we needed the appropriate project that would function well under passive house standards. The new residence build- ing was the perfect opportunity." Arifuzzaman cites a host of challenges bringing the project to life: "First was the scale. This was the largest student residence built to passive house [PH] standards in this climate zone. Second was preparing the marketplace. The design and construction industry had not seen a project like this in Canada. We had to do a lot of legwork to get the industry up to speed, which meant multiple iterations of the project with architects and builders." The residence is sited and shaped so as many occupied spaces as possible feel a connection to the out- side, an ambiance augmented by a large second level landscaped ter- race and a grand dining hall at ground level. Dormitory rooms are arranged in clusters, each hav- ing their own identity and designed to create a strong sense of home. Passive House Student Residence required the services of several archi- tecture firms. Handel Architects was the design architect; Core Architects Inc. was retained as the executive architects, and Arcadis IBI Group was the architect of record. Deborah Moelis, principal at Handel, says, "Handel and Core col- laborated to deliver the design. The passive house strategies were devel- oped with the engineers at Steven Winter Associates and Introba. The university then engaged a design build company – Pomerleau – who, with Arcadis and their team, took the design through CDs. The Handel/Core team reviewed construction issues for aesthetics and general confor- mance with the design documents." Every detail was carefully con- sidered to meet PH requirements: for example, the window size was determined to maximize exposure to natural light while minimizing potential heat loss and maintaining functional operation, without sacrific- ing the layout of the internal spaces. Moelis adds, "The main chal- lenge was actually the 400-seat dining facility." Arifuzzaman elabo- rates, "We had to look at innovative ways to bring energy loads down in this area because of the amount of wastewater and heat it would gener- ate from making 3,000 meals daily." LOCATION 3300 Ellesmere Road, Scarborough, Ontario OWNER /DEVELOPER University of Toronto Scarborough ARCHITECTS Handel Architects (design architect); Core Architects (executive architect); Arcadis IBI Group (architect of record) DESIGN BUILD CONTR ACTOR Pomerleau STRUCTUR AL CONSULTANT EXP MECHANICAL /ELECTRICAL MCW Consultants Ltd. L ANDSCAPE ARCHITECT The Planning Partnership INTERIOR DESIGN Handel Architects / Core Architects / Partisans PASSIVE HOUSE CONSULTANTS Steven Winter Associates / Introba TOTAL SIZE 24,620 square metres TOTAL COST Undisclosed