Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati School
Toronto, Ontario
Client : Toronto Catholic District School Board
Area : 48,600 sf
Program : 25 Classrooms, Library, Work Rooms, Servery, Gymnasium, Changerooms
The Toronto Catholic District School Board, K-8 school has capacity for 467 pupil places. Sharing a site with a TDSB school and childcare centre in the Scarborough neighbourhood of Morningside Heights, the building creates a campus plan of shared outdoor spaces while defining a strong street presence on the southern edge.
The new school incorporates several low-tech sustainable initiatives such as greywater re-use, enhanced access to daylight in classrooms, energy efficient building envelope, and the use of low-emissive VOC materials with recycled content. As part of a new TCDSB initiative, the building is not fully air-conditioned but rather it uses displacement ventilation along with best practice sun shading techniques and a high-quality building envelope to create comfortable conditions.
The Globe and Mail commended the project’s design excellence on low cost, “Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati Catholic School brings a new standard for light-filled school design to a residential subdivision. Designed with Scandinavian-style white brick walls, generous windows with black mullions and the occasional flourish of lime-green paint, the architecture is clearly intended to invigorate the minds of young learners . . . The ground-floor lobby serves as command central, warmly defined by a cedar ceiling, welcoming maple benches and surround views into the white gymnasium . . . I expect that the facility, completed for under $200 per square foot, will become a new template of humane school design.”
Lisa Rochon (2012, December 22). 6 beautiful Toronto buildings that let in (plenty of) winter light. The Globe and Mail.