Renzo Piano Building Workshop Designs Its First Project in Canada

On Feb. 22, Infrastructure Ontario (IO), an agency owned by the Canadian province of Ontario, and the Ministry of the Attorney General signed a contract with a team led by Canadian construction company EllisDon Infrastructure to design, build, finance, and maintain a new courthouse in downtown Toronto. As part of this contract, Renzo Piano Building Workshop (RPBW) and NORR Architects & Engineers will design the new New Toronto Courthouse. This marks the RPBW’s first project in Canada.

RPBW in partnership with NORRArchitects & Engineers as part of the EllisDonInfrastructure Team have been selected by Infrastructure Ontario & the Ministry of the Attorney General to design,build, finance and maintain the new Toronto Courthouse!@NORR_AEP @EllisDon @Infra_Ontario pic.twitter.com/dZTmSTNRTd

— RPBW (@RPBWARCHITECTS) February 22, 2018

“Access to justice in Toronto has taken a step forward today with the awarding of the contract to build the new Toronto Courthouse,” said Attorney General Yasir Naqvi in a news release. “This innovative, first-of-its-kind project will reduce costs and ensure equal access to services by all accused, victims, witnesses, and other court users.”

Big news: We're partnering with a dream team to design the new Toronto Courthouse w/ @RPBWARCHITECTS as part of the @EllisDon Infrastructure Team, selected by @InfraOntario and the Ministry of the Attorney General (img: RPBW) https://t.co/HbxUcR2OsE #norr_aep #torontoarchitecture pic.twitter.com/OOQBIQHXeC

— NORR (@NORR_AEP) February 23, 2018

The design of the new courthouse emphasizes on the importance of public space and aims to strengthen the link between the courthouse and the city, according to NORR Architects. The building will sit on a 66-foot-tall base clad in large transparent glazed panels that will enhance the indoor-outdoor relationship and improve the streetscape on Centre Avenue and Chestnut Street. The LEED-Silver-anticipated building will “focus on energy efficiency, healthy indoor environments, and reduced greenhouse gas emissions,” said IO in a news release. It will also utilize latest technology to improve access and functionality, including closed-circuit telecommunication system. Upon completion, the courthouse will house a number of Ontario Court of Justice criminal courts that are currently operating at various locations across the city.

In December 2016, IO announced that following an archaeological excavation in 2015, the archaeologists had uncovered thousands of artifices on the construction site. The found objects, that belong to the late 19th and early 20th centuries, show that the new courthouse will sit atop part of the site of St. John’s Ward, one of Toronto’s earliest immigrant settlements. In a partnership with the City of Toronto, the IO has launched an exhibition showcasing a selection of the excavated objects at the Toronto City Hall. Parts of this exhibition includes “accounts of African-Americans who fled slavery and came to Canada by the Underground Railroad,” according to IO.

The new courthouse is anticipated to break ground in a few months, with an estimated completion in spring 2022.