WINNER OF THE 2025 RAIC RESEARCH & INNOVATION IN ARCHITECTURE AWARD To offset 100% of its energy use with site-sourced renewables, the facility supplements its rooftop photovoltaics with open-loop geo-exchange heating—a first for a City of Toronto facility. ARCHITECT MJMA LOCATION Toronto, Ontario In 2017, the City of Toronto commissioned MJMA to design the Western North York Community Centre, a Net Zero Energy Aquatic Facility. As a demonstration project, the design aimed to validate the latest Toronto Green Standard near-zero emission goals for city-owned facilities, setting the standard for future recreation centres.  Across building typologies, aquatic and arena facilities are amongst the highest energy consumers. A high proportion of this energy is used to sustain interior environments that require specially treated air, water, and ice—delivering consistent, comfortable environments under tightly regulated standards, regardless of outdoor temperatures. Delivering buildings which will outperform existing high performance standards requires a reconsideration of best practices, in order to make way for even better outcomes. Sustainability Diagram Meeting the Challenges of Designing a Net Zero Energy Community Recreation Centre To become one of Canada’s first Net Zero Energy Aquatic Facilities, the project was required to offset 100% of the building’s energy use by site-sourced renewable energy. This was a significant challenge because of the limited size and linear configuration of the site.  Industry best practices for Net Zero Energy quickly proved to be inadequate for the Western North York Community Centre. Even after minimizing energy loads through effective heat recovery systems and the deployment of passive design strategies, the long, narrow site limited the ability to install enough solar photovoltaics to balance the energy ledger—a common approach for Net Zero Energy projects.  Initial studies made clear that providing on-site, low-emission heat and energy would be the only way to bring about significant emission reductions. The search for clean energy landed two possibilities beyond the closed loop geo-exchange study that the City required: biomass heat and power generation, and open loop geo-exchange heating. Although the biomass study had promising results, the challenges of finding a consistent supply and the need to restructure city operations for the regular maintenance of the system made it unviable. Investigations into geological potential proved far more successful. The site’s proximity to the Humber River hinted at a buried bedrock valley that supports a large aquifer running through the site. This aquifer, with its substantial size, suitable composition, and stable below-ground temperature, provided ideal conditions for tempering water and air, greatly reducing the energy required for operations. This system is modelled to reduce energy demand by over 46.7%, outperforming closed loop and air source heat pump system models in both energy reduction and long-term investment value. The implementation of this system will be the first in the City of Toronto’s portfolio and represents an entirely new approach for the City to consider when developing new projects. A New Modus Operandi to Achieve Sustainable Performance While energy modelling provides a projection of possibilities, long-term performance depends heavily on the client’s operation and maintenance teams. Introducing changes to facility operations was essential. To support this shift, MJMA initiated and led collaborative discussions with staff and consultants, building tours, peer interviews, and industry presentations, enabling the City to better understand the value of implementing new systems including automatic pool covers, a low-energy pool water filtration system, and natural ventilation options for non-aquatic spaces. This extensive engagement, which was beyond the design team’s scope, was a critical step to convincing the City to rethink standard procedures and adopt improved practices—with an eye to the potential use of these systems for future recreational facilities. The design team developed a low-carbon concrete mix for pool tanks to reduce the project’s upfront carbon. Addressing Whole Life Carbon At the time of the design, there was little reliable data about reasonable upfront carbon (also known as embodied carbon) limits for a large community centre. MJMA’s in-house life cycle analysis helped focus on specific products and producers, allowing a greater degree of control for the upfront carbon included in MJMA’s specifications. Collaborations with local steel and concrete suppliers helped establish lower carbon limits than the industry average, resulting in a custom specification tailored to the Ontario construction market. Efforts focused on the aquatic hall, where significant opportunities for improvement were determined. By working with structural engineers Blackwell, pool building experts Acapulco, and local concrete suppliers Innocon, the team identified areas where efficiencies in materials could be achieved and construction standards to reduce waste could be implemented. This led to the project adopting a revised lower-carbon concrete mix for pool tanks. These innovations mean that there is now an alternative to the long-standing industry specification for concrete pools. For specialized buildings like community recreation facilities, gathering detailed, typology-specific data is essential to create realistic, yet aspirational, benchmarks for reducing embodied carbon. In Spring 2023, the studio initiated an internal embodied carbon benchmarking study, focusing on the recreation facility typology. The study aimed to supplement findings from the 2021 TAF (The Atmospheric Fund) primer, which analyzed 544 life cycle assessments of Ontario buildings. The primer proposed regulatory reduction targets and policy recommendations based on its review. MJMA’s research yielded benchmarks specific to recreation facilities, offering a more ambitious goal for this typology than those suggested in the TAF primer. Feedback collected through an extensive community engagement process resulted in the inclusion of a community ‘living room’—a central gathering space that includes a snack counter, gallery wall, and gaming garage. Practicing Whole Life Carbon Reduction Strategies In addition to its upfront carbon benchmark study, MJMA has undertaken a comprehensive analysis of their entire interior assemblies library and an initial study for mechanical systems in aquatic halls. MJMA’s Embodied Carbon Research Team manages and updates material libraries, addressing construction challenges and building social networks to share findings that support broader adoption across the studio’s projects and the construction industry. This research has allowed the studio to develop a process to conduct Life Cycle Analyses that can be scaled throughout project teams, ensuring that the discussion around carbon becomes more holistic and a critical part of the design process. Demand for ever-better energy performance has led MJMA to collaborations with Toronto Metropolitan University and mechanical engineers AME. Together, they have worked to model Passivhaus Pool standards (which were developed for more temperate climates) against current best practice. The data will provide evidence for how industry standards might be adapted or improved. Sharing Knowledge MJMA’s research has highlighted systemic changes needed in the building industry to effectively reduce CO2 emissions, particularly in upfront carbon. Part of the challenge is the scarcity of Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) for many materials, which are not yet standard in manufacturing. Since Life Cycle Assessments depend heavily on EPD data for accurate and consistent estimates, it is essential for architects to communicate demand and findings to manufacturers. Clear market and policy signals are necessary to encourage investment in product testing and certifications. Collaboration and knowledge-sharing across all construction-related groups is vital. To foster this, MJMA’s research findings have been disseminated through workshops, lectures, and publications across North America and Europe. Participation in over a dozen conferences and regular presentations to students further ensure that insights are shared with designers, collaborators, students, and academics. This openness reduces duplicated efforts and, hopefully, fosters inspiration and collaboration. In the context of the global climate crisis, architects need to champion sustainable, resilient design in a manner that acknowledges each project’s unique environmental, economic, and social context. This includes investing in research initiatives that give the industry a better understanding of the whole life carbon impact of projects, and where innovation can make change for the better. MJMA’s aim is to continually work towards higher standards so that they can continue to act as trusted advisors to clients to respond to the evolving challenges posed by climate change. Jury Comment :: This innovative research establishes crucial benchmarks for Canada’s first Net Zero Energy aquatic facility, addressing a significant gap in building performance data. The project expertly balances technical innovation, including embodied carbon standards, with practical solutions for moisture, materials, and operational challenges. Presented in an elegant, accessible way, this project and work demonstrate an admirable commitment to knowledge sharing and will serve as a valuable model for future community recreation facilities across Canada. The jury for this award included Jessie Andjelic, Chris Cornelius, Camille Mitchell (FRAIC), Maya Przybylski, and Terrence Smith-Lamothe (MRAIC). CLIENT City of Toronto, Parks, Forestry & Recreation; City of Toronto, Children Services | ARCHITECTURE MJMA Architecture & Design | LANDSCAPE MJMA Architecture & Design | INTERIORS MJMA Architecture & Design | SIGNAGE, WAYFINDING & EXPERIENTIAL DESIGN MJMA Architecture & Design | LIFE CYCLE ANALYSIS AND EMBODIED CARBON RESEARCH MJMA Architecture & Design | CHILD CARE DESIGN Bortolotto Architects | STRUCTURAL Blackwell Structural Engineers | MEP Smith + Andersen | CIVIL EMC Group Ltd. | GEO-EXCHANGE ENGINEERING Salas O’Brien (fmr. Beatty Geothermal Consulting) | PHOTOVOLTAIC ENERGY SYSTEM Zon Engineering Inc. | ENERGY STRATEGIES AND MODELLING Footprint | COMMISSIONING CFMS Consulting Inc. | BUILDING ENVELOPE COMMISSIONING RDH Building Science | TRAFFIC IMPACT HDR Inc. | BUILDING CODE David Hine Engineering | TRIPLE BOTTOM LINE COST BENEFIT ANALYSIS Autocase | BIOMASS Suthey Holler Associates, CBER, ENVINT Consulting As appeared in the May 2025 issue of Canadian Architect magazine The post 2025 RAIC Awards: Western North York Community Centre appeared first on Canadian Architect.