Toronto Botanical Garden

The ‘landmark’ green building addition has helped create a new and dynamic identity for the Toronto Botanical Garden.

The addition and renovation (The George and Kathy Dembroski Centre for Horticulture) expands on two existing linked buildings designed by Raymond Moriyama (1964) and Jerome Markson (1976). The revitalization includes an expanded library, new administrative offices, a new store, a new children’s centre and upgraded meeting areas. The new glass pavilion is designed as a sculptural form, mute and calm during the day and taking on the more dramatic appearance of a lantern in the evening. Although it creates a new ‘front door’ to the facility, it remains deferential to the gardens.

The pavilion is positioned to create a series of garden courts directly related to interior public spaces and effectively brings the gardens closer to the activities inside the building. A wood trellis with planting across the front provides sun protection to the clear glass at the ground floor of the store. Elsewhere, fritted glass is used and reduces heat gain by 70%. The pavilion’s sloping green roof is visible from one of the courtyards below. The building addition reuses much of the steel and stone of the existing building and over 90% of construction waste was diverted from landfill.

This LEED Silver project has won a Green Toronto Award and an Ontario Association of Architects Award of Excellence.