George Brown College has announced that Moriyama & Teshima Architects + Acton Ostry Architects have been selected to design The Arbour — moving one step closer toward construction of Ontario’s first tall wood, low carbon institutional building.
The winning design was chosen from a shortlist of four projects, which was revealed in late March. The losing finalist architect teams were Patkau Architects and MJMA, Shigeru Ban Architects and Brook McIlroy, and Provencher Roy and Turner Fleischer Architects 
Poised to transform the Toronto skyline, the team’s eye-catching design for the planned facility features breathing rooms — using solar chimney systems to capture and harness light and air for sustainable natural ventilation. The building design also offers flexibility of learning spaces, enabling walls to expand and contract as needed, as well as a “Made in Canada” approach using nationally sourced mass wood components.
The Arbour, a 12-storey mass timber building at our Waterfront Campus, will mark an important step forward in Canadian mid-rise wood structures and is poised to be the first project of its kind in Ontario.
Construction of this $130-million building is scheduled to begin in 2021 at the southeast corner of Queens Quay East and Lower Sherbourne Street, across the street from the Daphne Cockwell Centre for Health Sciences at Waterfront Campus. The Arbour will serve as an educational and research hub, and will also be home to a new child care facility to serve the growing East Bayfront community.
George Brown continues to demonstrate a commitment to sustainable development with The Arbour. The college aiming to construct a net-positive building. The Arbour will be flexible and future proof, equipped with smart building systems that are networked, intelligent and adaptable. The building will also be designed to adjust to changing academic uses and a changing climate.
The Arbour will also be home to Canada’s first Tall Wood Research Institute, fostering sharing of experience, ideas and research in low-carbon, mass timber construction. The building will also house George Brown’s School of Computer Technology. Once the project is constructed, students and researchers will learn to design, construct, operate and monitor the climate-friendly building.