An equally fun and readable approach to construction documentation, this image invites the viewer in to investigate a play of repetition through solid and void, rough and refined, process and product. In choosing to show this image in black and white, the fine tonality of the columns is contrasted against excavated earth, highlighting the active cycle of destruction and construction that is universal to the architectural process.
— Jacqueline Young, juror
The photograph reflects progress in the construction of the Landmark Project, one of the most significant open space projects at the University of Toronto in the past 100 years and a major component of UofT’s Climate Positive Campus initiative. Canada’s largest urban geothermal field is now installed beneath the site and will save an estimated 15,000 metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions each year—equivalent to removing 3,000+ cars from the road, and making a significant contribution to greening the UofT campus.
Surface parking has ensnared UofT’s King’s College Circle for more than 80 years; the Landmark Project relocates it below-grade. The space gained at the surface will see a revitalized connection between historically significant buildings and an improved landscape consisting of pedestrian-focused shared streets, more trees, gardens, plantings, and improved plus additional accessible paths of travel.
The structural column grid for the facility will be concealed beneath UofT’s historic front campus lawn. It was carefully coordinated to locate columns between over 370 geothermal boreholes that descend 250 metres into the earth, and which require a minimum centre-to-centre spacing of 4.6 metres.
The facility also provides for electric charging stations, bicycle parking and an educational component for applied learning that showcases the project’s geothermal operations.
— Salina Kassam
PROJECT University of Toronto Landmark Project by KPMB Architects with Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates, Toronto, Ontario