Brought to you by:Architect: Weiss/ManfrediLocation: TorontoCompletion Date: 2024A pair of flat-top concrete pyramids designed by New York Citybased architecture firm Weiss/Manfredi now anoint the entrance to Torontos Queens Park. Known as the Schwartz Reisman Innovation Center (SRIC), the new structure will serve as a technology and artificial intelligence incubator for the University of Toronto, connecting students and researchers to local start-ups and corporations. To bring light down to the street level, Weiss/Manfredi designed a sloped facade for the SRIC and clad the building in white-colored precast concrete, brightening its appearance. Weiss/Manfredis SRIC rises 13 stories and affords 200,000 square feet of space for the universitys technology and entrepreneurship programs. (Younes Bounhar)The SRIC is sited in a peculiar location at the convergence of the University of Toronto, the Legislative Assembly of Ontario, and Toronto General Hospital campuses. Weiss/Manfredi, a firm known in part for its academic work, brought their prior experience working with unusual sites to bear on the project. We were fortunate to have worked on some other projects that dont fit neatly into the heart or center of the campus, said Marion Weiss, one of the firms founding partners.The architects were also faced with a range of surrounding architectural styles to respond to. There are nearby Brutalist structures, such as the University of Torontos medical sciences building, and Ontarios Ministry of Finance, which is directly adjacent to the site. Queens Park creates a dramatic view corridor to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario, a massive red-sandstone building in the Romanesque style, and directly to the south is the Toronto General Hospital, a campus with a variety of architectural styles.The SRIC is located to the southeast of Queens Park, a large green space that fronts the Ontario Legislature. (Courtesy Weiss/Manfredi)One strategy to engage the adjoining urban fabric was the firms implementation of a series of outdoor balconies or winter gardens across the surface of the building. Each balconys height corresponds to that of a nearby structure. For example, the highest winter garden is in line with the Ministry of Finance.These spaces were afforded by insets in the facadeglazed cut aways that snake across the surface of the SRIC. The open slices of glass correspond with the buildings circulationits fire stairs and elevatorsas well as event and gathering spaces on the upper levels. Furthermore, glazing encases the ground floor lobby establishing connection to the Ontario Fire Fighters memorial, an adjacent pocket park.Massing diagram (Courtesy Weiss/Manfredi)The connections are made less through the material expression and more through the form of the building, Michael Manfredi, founding partner of Weiss/Manfredi, told AN. If youre moving through the building, youre always aware of the geography of the building and the context. Consideration of sunlight also shaped the SRICs design. The buildings slanted faces and pyramidal form are functional, allowing light to reach the street level. In addition, the height of the buildings western mass was reduced to accommodate the sites zoning, which forbid the creation of new shadows across Queens Park.The precast panels are faceted in form, creating a cascade of shadows that change throughout the day. (Courtesy Weiss/Manfredi)Faced with many nearby precedents for exterior expression, such as glass, stone, and brick, Weiss Manfredi ultimately selected precast concrete to brighten the buildings appearance and avoid an overbearing presence. A lot of people think that glass buildings are going to be the brightest building you can come up with, but by day, theyre often very black on the outside, and we wanted the building to feel as if it was luminous at all times, Weiss added.Precast concrete was also chosen due to its abundance in Ontario. The province is home to a number of fabricators and installers that work with the material. By leveraging local industries, the firm hoped to reduce the projects embodied energy.An oak paneled event space sits on the second floor of the SRIC. (Albert Vecerka)The interior of the building contains conference rooms, dry labs for computation and robotics, classrooms, and multiple event spaces, programs that will support the University of Torontos Entrepreneurship program, Innovations and Partnerships Office, and Vector Institute for Artificial Intelligence. In reference to Canadas position as a major exporter of timber, the SRIC has been furnished throughout with amber-stained oak paneling, a feature that is perhaps most dramatic inside the buildings main event space.University of Torontos SRIC is the result of a $100 million donation by Gerald Schwartz and Heather Reismanthe centers namesakesthat currently stands as the largest contribution in the schools history. A further expansion of the centeralso designed by Weiss/Manfrediis planned for the future.Project SpecificationsDesign Architect: Weiss/ManfrediArchitect of Record: Teeple ArchitectsMEP Engineer: Crossey EngineeringStructural Engineer: Thornton TomasettiCivil Engineer: Cole EngineeringAcoustics: NOVUS EnvironmentalWind: SLR ConsultingLighting: Lighting WorkshopConstruction Manager: EllisDon CorporationFacade Consultant: RJC Engineers, HeintgesFacade Access: ProbelConcrete: Tri-KreteFacade Installation: TKL GroupCurtain Wall: ANTAMEXLandscape Architect: DTAHHeritage Consultant: ERA ArchitectsTraffic: BA Consulting GroupVertical Transportation: Van Deusen & AssociatesSustainability Consultant: Atelier TenCost Estimation: HanscombCode Consultant: LMDG Building Code ConsultantsCivil Engineer: Cole EngineeringSpecifications: Teeple ArchitectsGeotechnical: OHE ConsultantsCommissioning: RWDIArborist: Bruce Tree