In many Canadian cities, mass timber is becoming more widespread as the structural basis for offices and residential buildings. But the newly opened 10-storey Limberlost Place, part of George Brown College’s waterfront Toronto campus and soon to be home to its architectural technology program, is still a rarity: it’s Canada’s only—and possibly the world’s first—mass timber academic tower.

To accomplish this feat, the team led by Moriyama Teshima Architects and Acton Ostry Architects needed to achieve the longer spans needed for classrooms with mass timber, as well as to overcome regulatory hurdles related to the occupant load of an assembly-type building—accommodating up to 3,400 people in this case, a much higher density than a comparable office or residential building.

Added to the use of mass timber was a host of other sustainability ambitions: a passive, natural ventilation strategy for the building to achieve net-zero emissions, a pre-fabricated façade to save time and materials, and a small-footprint, localized mechanical system that would open up penthouse space.