Toronto Public Library Scarborough Civic Centre Branch Toronto, Ontario
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LIBRARY CONCEPT SKETCH
Toronto Public Library Scarborough Civic Centre Branch Toronto, Ontario
CreaƟvity Toronto Public Library’s new 14,500 sq. Ō. branch makes manifest an idea that dates back to 1969: build a library for Scarborough’s Civic Centre. The project’s design reorganizes and reorients the precinct’s disengaged and outmoded site plan relaƟonships by creaƟng a welcoming, vital point of community engagement, inside and out, for a burgeoning, highly diverse populaƟon. A criƟcal design challenge was creaƟng a landscape-building relaƟonship that would reimagine the library as a porous, garden foreground to the exisƟng, monumental Civic Centre beyond. As a gesture of openness, glass replaces the tradiƟonally solid boundary walls that enclose many libraries. The overarching expression of the building is, instead, the series of four gently sloping roof planes that create an elevated garden landscape resƟng on a series of crossing column clusters. Because the roofs are sloped, the greenery is simultaneously visible from the street, from the elevated walkways of the Civic Centre, from the interiors through clerestory windows and, one day, from the tops of nearby future residenƟal developments.
ROOF / LANDSCAPE
STRUCTURE / RECIPROCAL FRAME
PROGRAM / PAVILIONS
SITE / PODIUM
EXPLODED AXONOMETRIC OF LIBRARY BUILDING COMPONENTS
CIVIC GREEN
PEDESTRIAN DISTANCES
Context The project establishes clear pedestrian connecƟons within the Scarborough Civic Centre Precinct to strengthen the public realm. Scarborough’s Civic Centre Precinct was conceived in the late 1960s, reflecƟng that era’s urban thinking. The site for the library is the man-made sloped embankment immediately south of Raymond Moriyama’s landmark Civic Centre, which was built in 1973 as an “object in the landscape,” and which rests almost 4.5 meters above the adjacent street level. The library funcƟons as the new public face to the Precinct’s southern entry point, interfacing with a number of newly established pedestrian connecƟons that are instrumental in reorganizing the enƟre site: a new Civic park, a tree- lined boulevard along the street, a new accessible entranceway to the exisƟng Civic Centre beyond, and a ramping garden connecƟon to the exisƟng circumferenƟal walkway leading to the Precinct’s northern entry points. The library’s glazed facade and wide overhanging roof planes animate the street edge along Borough Drive, creaƟng a pedestrian boulevard that tapers to the main entrance of the library.
Serviceberry
Tufted Hairgrass
Sedum sp.
(Amelanchier sp.)
(Deschampsia
(Sedum acre ‘Aureum’)
cespitosa)
Nodding Onion
Creeping Juniper
Sedum sp.
(Allium Cernuum)
(Juniperus
(Sedum album
horizontalis)
‘Coral Carpet’)
Crawe’s Sedge
Little Bluestem
Sedum sp.
(Carex crawei)
(Schizachyrium
(Sedum sexuangulare)
scoparium)
Sustainability The roof incorporates notable sustainable features. The largest roof overhangs on the south and west facades to provide passive solar shading to miƟgate cooling loads for the library in summer months. The clerestory windows help enable the library to rely on natural light during the day for most of the year in concert with sensors and controls to use arƟficial light only for zones that require it. The storm water management design for the site relies on diverƟng excess water from each green roof and direcƟng it below grade via rainwater leaders to storm water infiltraƟon beds for containment and eventual percolaƟon back into the water table. The vegetaƟon on the green roof is exemplary for its use of local planƟngs to improve biodiversity. Its uƟlizes rocks and plants found in the Litle Bluestem Alvar Grassland found along shorelines of Southern Ontario.
1 Scarborough Civic Centre 2 Borough Drive 3 Toronto Public Library Scarborough Civic Centre Branch 4 Civic Green Park
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SITE PLAN SHOWING EXTENSIVE GREEN ROOF DESIGN and CIVC GREEN PARK top ANALOG IN LOCAL ONTARIO ECOLOGY: LITTLE BLUE STEM ALVAR GRASSLAND
1 Borough Drive 2 Entry 3 LIbrary Commons 4 CirculaƟon Desk 5 Community Program Room 6 Media Lab 7 Living Room 8 Mechanical 9 Story Courtyard 10 Children’s Zone 11 Teen Zone
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1 FLOOR PLAN
Good Buisness TPL’s goal was to increase use, evolve with changing technology and serve the needs of the growing neighbourhood. The design soluƟon is an open and flexible floor space with movable data and electrical connecƟons and stacks on wheels that can be easily rearranged as required. This flexibility has enabled the library to beƩer facilitate the over 83,000 visitors, 2,200 new registraƟons and 150,000 circulaƟons of library material that it has already had since opening.
Legacy The Library is the first significant public building to be realized in Scarborough’s Civic Centre Precinct in over 25 years. The project kick-starts a new wave of development aimed at urbanizing the ‘super-block,’ and creates a strong community hub, with an equally well-conceived public realm, that the surrounding community will enjoy for years to come.