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An application recently submitted to the City of Toronto seeks rezoning and Site Plan Approval to permit a low-rise office building to be built at 60 Mobile Drive, located on the east rim of the Don Valley just south of Eglinton Avenue East. The proposal from the Ontario Secondary School Teachers' Federation (OSSTF) calls for the replacement of their existing OSSTF administrative building with a modern facility that would provide a new head office for the federation while also creating space for a new unannounced tenant.
The Moriyama & Teshima-designed three-storey, mass timber, 9,500 m² office building would be entirely dedicated to office uses. The building's northern third would be partitioned off, housing space for the OSSTF, while the remaining sections to the south would be built for a separate tenant, with both wings of the building to contain their own dedicated elevator and mechanical systems.
While the OSSTF plans purely office and administrative space across all floors, the shell tenant space includes a mix of uses for its wing of the ground floor, with spaces to include a large multi-purpose room with operable partition, a servery, catering services, meeting rooms, along with various offices and mechanical rooms. The levels above are proposed with office space.
The building's most prominent design elements include a central three-storey atrium topped in a large glazed skylight that would fill the building with natural light, topped by a diagrid of Glued-laminated Timber (GLT) beams and surrounded in photovoltaic panels that offset building energy use. A central third-floor terrace aligns to face west into the greenery of the Don Valley. Among other notable design features is a network of angled cross-bracing columns, exposed within office interiors and on display to the outside through the building's exterior glazing to create a dialogue with the skylight's supports. The project is targeting LEED Platinum certification.
A total of 156 parking spaces are planned, 107 of the spaces to be in a surface lot, the remaining 49 spaces in a single underground level. There is also provision for 37 bicycle parking spaces, of which 20 are short-term and 17 are long-term. The building will be a few minutes walk from the Sloane stop on the Crosstown LRT.
Exterior finishing is to be minimalist modern with a mix of pre-finished sheet metal siding, insulated metal panels, insulated glazing with bird-friendly frit pattern framed in dark aluminum mullions. Wood soffit and sheet metal flashing are to provide detailed accents.
Additional information and images can be found in our Database file for the project, linked below. Want to get involved in the discussion? Check out the associated Forum thread, or leave a comment below.
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| Related Companies: | Eastern Construction, LEA Consulting, RWDI Climate and Performance Engineering |
