At the University of Toronto – Scarborough Campus (UTSC), a new nine-story student residence brings a modern building style to the school. The 265,000 SF passive house building has 746 dorm rooms, doubling the number of students the campus is able to house. It also offers updated amenities including a dining hall, a kitchen, common spaces and a garden. As part of the design-build team, EXP provided structural consulting services and completed structural design, BIM modeling and field review of construction to bring this vibrant living space to students.
Harmony Commons Student Residence has been named Canada’s largest Passive House certified building due to its superior energy performance. A Passive House building prioritizes air tightness, insulation, minimizing thermal bridging, high performance windows and heat recovery ventilation. Passive House certified buildings are required to provide high indoor air quality and operate on energy-saving systems.
Harmony Commons Student Residence uses up to 90% less heating and cooling and less than one-third of the energy than buildings without this type of infrastructure because of its triple-glazed windows, which have optimal insulation, orientation and ventilation, as well as walls with improved thermal performance. The airtight construction of the building, as well as its energy-saving windows and ventilation system, allow it to save a massive amount of energy.
“It was a privilege working with the Pomerleau design-build team, which included Project Architects, IBI Group and Passive House specialists, RDH Building Science Inc., to collaborate and develop structural working details to minimize thermal bridging and address constructability at the structure/building envelope interface, from foundations to roof level. This was a unique opportunity to also collaborate with the owner’s design consultants, which included Handel Architects and Core Architects, to successfully execute this cutting-edge Passive House facility, using the design-build bridging delivery model,” said Frank Deluca, Senior Associate, Structural Division at EXP.
Learn more about EXP’s structural expertise.