Location: King City, Ontario

Architecture Practices: Montgomery Sisam Architects Inc.

The Dining and Operations Centre blends a traditional collegiate model with a contemporary interpretation of local agrarian architecture. Spaces for living, learning, and socializing frame three sides of a central quad. Asymmetrical pitched roofs carve a striking silhouette against the landscape, while elongated façades with slender vertical glazing flood interiors with daylight and transform the building into a luminous beacon at night. Dark Shou Sugi Ban wood cladding adds a richly textured finish that echoes the site’s heritage. Inside, soaring sloped ceilings and an exposed timber structure continue the agrarian vernacular, creating warm, expansive spaces that invite both connection and community.

The Centre transforms the Koffler Scientific Reserve into a cohesive campus, replacing several outlying buildings. It honors its unique natural setting by occupying the footprint of three former barns, preserving habitats and natural topography. Without a built context, it aligns with cardinal coordinates to respond predictably to the sun. Large perimeter windows frame uninterrupted views of wetlands and forests, deep overhangs, and a continuous bench inside and out blur the boundaries between indoors and outdoors and cultivate a deep connection with the land. Moreover, the building literally brings people together, strengthening the social dimensions of fieldwork through shared experience.

 

Jury Comments

"This project introduces a relevant typology for the agrarian campus. It demonstrates the synergy between the centre’s aims for ecological research and architecture’s role in modelling ecological principles through the calibration of form."

 

Check out our BLOAAg article for more information.

Publish Date : 2026/Jun/15