Issue link: http://digital.canadawide.com/i/177297
The Sisters of St. Joseph of Toronto courtesy structform by Leslie C. Smith hen the 162-year-old order of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Toronto decided to commission a new retirement residence closer to its congregational administration offices in uptown Toronto, they, with the help of architects Brigitte Shim and Howard Sutcliffe in consultation with heritage consultants ERA Architects, selected a wedge of land with a magnificent view overlooking the Don Valley. Back in the Victorian era, this had been the estate of wealthy mill- and brickworks-owner John Taylor, and his period house is still standing – a faded beauty filled with original fireplaces, woodwork, chandeliers, stained glass windows and carved mouldings, albeit showing a little worse for wear after more than a century. Since the 1930s, the Taylor House had been employed as a retirement home run by the United Church. It seemed somehow fitting that another church take it over as part of a retirement community for elderly and infirm sisters of the religious order. But the house alone would never accommodate the necessary 65 residential suites, 30 assisted living units, and 35 private hospital units providing rehabilitation, convalescent and palliative care, not to mention a handful more visiting guest rooms, as well as multi-purpose rooms for meetings, gatherings and social activities, a dining room, administration offices, and a centrepiece chapel. The architects therefore used the old Taylor House as the starting point, attaching it via a glassed-in walkway to a distinctly new, four-storey building that snakes its way to the south, as if following the natural lip of the ravine. The project comprises a whopping 96,000 square feet, including adjoining land set aside for an extensive landscaped garden. Reverence for what came before is obvious in the care the sisters took in retaining and restoring the old house. W The Sisters of St. Joseph of Toronto p56-59SistersStJoseph.indd 57 The much larger modern portion of the project, however, was specifically designed to reflect the sisters' great respect for the earth. It is a place where even sisters with an average age of 70 can carry on with their ministries, from private prayer to social work. These are, after all, women whose entire lives have centred around making time for other people in a world where time always seems to be at a premium. Turner & Townsend CM2R Inc. provided full pre-contract and cost planning services to the sisters, including milestone estimates from concept through pre-tender stages, participation in value engineering exercise, preparation of total project budgets and reconciliation with the successfully appointed construction manager. The company is currently providing project manager services, the scope of which includes attendance at construction progress meetings; monthly progress and financial reporting; participation in subcontract tender and award process, as well as general advice; and coordination and support on an as-needed basis. Turner & Townsend CM2R made a significant difference in the project by recognizing the client's unique mission statement and applying that to the construction process. In terms of sustainable building practices, "The building envelope was a key factor in energy conservation," says Mike Adams, construction manager with Eastern Construction. "The curtainwall is actually five separate systems." Made by Roschmann Steel and Glass Construction, the high-performance envelope was fabricated after a mockup had been rigorously tested in all types of weather at its plant in Germany. "It was a difficult shape," Adams continues. "The formwork had to be extremely accurate because we were ordering all our curtainwall components and window components based on guaranteed dimensions. That was all in manufacturing while we were still putting up the structure." The entire construction team was called upon to deal with a complex build, full of rounded surfaces and corners, featuring innovative, state-ofthe-art geothermal heating and cooling systems, a solar hot water system, photovoltaic roof panels topping a green roof, large L-shaped sun shades for south-facing walls, and a rainwater cistern for stormwater management. One of the bigger challenges came from installation of the mechanical systems. Mark Driscoll, mechanical contractor with HTS Engineering, says the high-performance, high-energy, quietoperating configurations required a significant amount of custom work. "The real emphasis was on performance above the standard spec. There are lots of energy recovery and management systems in the building, and some pretty high-end water-source heat pumps." The economic and ecological payback of lower operational and maintenance costs is seen as justifying the higher initial expense. However, Driscoll adds, "due to the nature of the design and because they were trying to maximize the view, all mechanicals had to be fitted into small rooms in the basement. The sinuous shape of the building meant incremental spaces with tight access were used. So instead of simply craning large boxes onto the roof, we had to take apart several big units and reassemble them in those basement spaces, carrying in the parts by dolly or by hand." The natural hub of the sisters' residence is its new circular chapel. Clean and modern in design, its most powerful visual element is a set of 18- and 28-foothigh wooden fins that encompass the interior and essentially act as a "huge set of blinds," according to Jose Rocha, president of Allwood Carpentry Manufacturing, subcontractor for the fins, as well as all the millwork throughout the new building and the Taylor House. The fins, made from hand-selected, rift-cut, European white oak-veneered panels reinforced with lightweight aluminum tubing and solid white oak wood trims, weigh up to 600 pounds apiece, and are supported on specially designed hardware whose bearings allow for ease of access in case of repairs. Another highlight is the solarium. Encased in curvaceous, butt-joined glass, with no framework or mullions to interrupt the close-up surround of native flowers and shrubs, and spectacular, long-distance view of Toronto's central valley, this will be one of the premier places in the city to enjoy the scenic changing seasons. "I think a lot of the trades realize they're building something special here," says Mike Adams. ■ Location 2 O'Connor Drive Toronto, Ontario Owner/Developer Sisters of St. Joseph of Toronto Project Manager Turner & Townsend CM2R Inc. Architect Shim-Sutcliffe Architects Inc. Construction Manager Eastern Construction Co. Ltd. Structural Consultant Blackwell Bowick Engineering Mechanical/ Electrical Consultant Crossey Engineering Ltd. Heritage Consultant ERA Architects Inc. Landscape Architect NAK Design Group Total area 96,000 square feet Total Construction Cost Over $38 million december 2012 /57 11/16/12 3:31 PM