Inside and out─this campus is green

George Brown College - Daphne Cockwell Centre for Health Sciences

The Daphne Cockwell Centre for Health Sciences at George Brown College's Waterfront Campus, occupying a prominent site on Toronto's reinvigorated waterfront, recognizes the shift in healthcare services from isolated medical functions toward an integrated delivery of care. The overarching vision of the campus is to realize an inter-professional education delivery model through the creation of an environment where students from different professional programs can learn with, from and about each other. Bringing multiple medical professions together in both education and practice emphasizes the importance of collaboration and its impact on quality of care. 

The design optimizes the lakefront site, drawing on waterfront typologies from pier buildings and industrial lofts to create a new paradigm of health sciences education. A highly flexible academic 'loft' bar building anchors the west side of the site. To the south and east, the building steps down by means of articulated park pavilions. The highly transparent façade expresses the program, maximizes view and connection to and from the adjacent Sherbourne Park and Lake Ontario. A fluid 'learning landscape' is embodied within the building section creating a legible vertical circulation from ground plane up to the accessible green roofs. Informal gathering spaces are the physical manifestation of the IPE model, providing the opportunity to nurture inter-program collaboration. A transparent podium houses public program components further elevating the project's vision to become an intercommunity education model.

The campus is LEED Gold certified. The grounds do not rely on irrigation and low flow plumbing fixtures result in over 40 percent saving of potable water. Inside, CO2 sensors that monitor occupant loads and ensure adequate ventilation. The green roof contributes to storm water management and cooling. Over 90 percent of construction waste was diverted from landfill, over 17 percent of materials contain recycled content, and over 33 percent of materials were sourced locally. All these design and construction elements come together to build an environmentally conscience campus that looks as good inside as it does from the outside.