Staircase at University of Toronto Terrence Donnelly Centre
University of Toronto Terrence Donnelly Centre for Cellular and Biomolecular Research
TORONTO, CANADA
BRINGING A 12-STORY “GLASS BOX” TO LIFE
AT THE UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO
The facility that would become the Terrence Donnelly Centre for
Cellular and Biomolecular Research (TDCCBR) Canada’s foremost
human genome research center, needed to be impressive enough to
aid in the recruitment of top scientists, but also respectful of the historic
buildings and cityscape that surrounded it. The structure, a fully glazed,
248,378-square-foot facility resembling a glass box, married these ideals
while also creating an environment that fostered collaboration and
interdisciplinary research. The final result is a structure that possesses
an indoor-outdoor sensibility, with a soaring glass atrium, lush interior
gardens and an overall impression of light and transparency.
Completed in November 2005 with a budget of $86 million (USD),
TDCCBR was recently named a winner of the Business Week/
Architectural Record “Designed for Success” award. The project team
included architectural firms architectsAlliance (Toronto) and Behnisch
Architekten (Germany, Los Angeles), glazing contractor Ferguson-
Neudorf (Ontario), and design engineers/product manufacturer Kawneer
North America.
DESIGN HIGHLIGHTS
• Constructed with unitized curtain wall, each elevation of the “box”
features a unique design and custom glazing elements, from a
double-skinned curtain wall to a spot-colored façade glazed to mimic
the pattern of DNA code.
• To relate to the scale of the surrounding community, a break in the
building’s height was introduced at the seventh floor with a reduced
floor plate and enclosed area to house the lower floors’ mechanical
functions. The result presents the impression of a belt cinching a waist.
• Several “bump-outs” from the curtain wall were featured on the west
and south elevations. Designed to expand the space and allow for
multistory gardens, staircases and conversation areas, these bump-
outs required the construction of a custom stick curtain wall, which
were anchored to architecturally exposed steel to handle the large
spans in these areas.
Painstaking design engineering was necessary to make the building
completely airtight and watertight. Because there were numerous points
throughout the structure where the unitized curtain wall would be
interrupted, all the design needed to be completed up front.
ARCHITECTS
architectsAlliance
Toronto, Canada
Behnisch Architekten
Stuttgart, Germany and
Los Angeles, California
GLAZING CONTRACTOR
Ferguson-Neudorf
Ontario, Canada
FEATURED PRODUCTS
Modified 2500 PG Wall™ Curtain Wall System
GLASSvent™ Windows for Curtain Wall
526 Thermal Windows