Location: Eastern Canada
University of Toronto
Leslie L. Dan Faculty of Pharmacy
Canada’s largest pharmacy school, this 167,000 ft2 teaching and research facility includes practice laboratories, research facilities, a resource centre, lecture theatres and offices for faculty, staff and graduate students. The building is 16 storeys (13 above and three below grade), and supports the academic, research and teaching needs of more than 1,300 people daily.
A ‘repeatable’ environment is fundamental in research facilities. By designing steady and stable environmental conditions, experiments can be repeated without data corruption.
Program space includes 23 labs for pharmaceutical research. Laboratory features include distribution of lab gases, on-site nitrogen generation, Type II Reverse Osmosis water, and a ganged fume hood system sized to accommodate 65 fume hoods, complete with variable volume control and glycol heat recovery systems.
Conservation measures were applied to the laboratory systems to minimize energy use while meeting stringent laboratory standards. Separate plumbing systems were designed to avoid contamination by lab waste and to collect rainwater for distribution to the Winter Garden.
Signature ‘floating’ pods anchor the lighting design for the building’s dramatic five-storey atrium. Theatre-inspired lighting is computer controlled by a dimming system that changes the evening lighting every 15 minutes. Rather than attach luminaires to the pods themselves, which would have compromised the architect’s vision, the dramatic lighting comes from 128 – 375 watt and 300 watt quartz halogen lamps attached to black theatre pipes mounted on the vertical mullions. The fixtures can be moved up or down and become part of the spatial experience.
A 12-storey central atrium brings sunlight deep into the core in other parts of the building. For the upper perimeter, a high window system enables less expensive, concealed wall-wash lighting. Echoing the geometry of the interior architecture, LEDs were fixed into the handrails of hallways and bridges for emergency lighting.
SERVICES
Mechanical Engineering | Electrical Engineering | Lighting Design
PROJECT FEATURES
Size: 167,000 ft2 | Status: Completed 2006
LOCATION
Toronto, Ontario
KEY SCOPE ELEMENTS
23 labs for pharmaceutical reserch | Practice laboratories, research facilities, resource centre, lecture theatres, and offices for faculty, staff and graduate students | Signature floating pods lighting design | Energy conservation measures implemented | 12 storey atrium
Designed for flexibility
As with all research centres, we design for future uses of the space. We plan for flexibility, to allow for future IT development, or to enable the space to be retrofitted quickly and cost-effectively.
Award-winning lighting
The Pharmacy Building has been honoured with numerous international awards and press coverage and, in 2009, the Toronto Star newspaper named the Leslie Dan lighted pods as one of “175 Reasons to Love Toronto”. At dusk, the pods mimic the setting sun, bursting with fiery reds and deep blues. Colours advance through a palette of hues, starting on one pod and flowing to the other.
Ernst & Young
100 Adelaide Tower, Multi-Floor Fitout
“Throughout the tower...elements of wellness enhance the EY experience for employees, including quiet spaces for recharging, changing rooms for getting ready on the go, showers, bike parking and more.”
– EY@Work
The downtown Ernst & Young (EY) Tower is Toronto’s first Triple A office building constructed to LEED Platinum standards. The 255,000 ft2 tenant project was an 11-floor fitout designed to be the epitome of the modern flexible work environment, to reflect EY’s new ‘Workplace of the Future’. Amenities include tech-enabled boardrooms, collaborative meeting areas, a dynamic event space and EY Toronto’s Innovation Centre. The building has received Toronto’s second WELL Gold certification. (HH Angus is proud to have been involved in both of these WELL Gold-certified projects).
Features of the project include a new interconnecting stairway between two floors; a café/hub, IT equipment room, and Main Communications Room on each floor; Reception and client-facing floor; intricate lighting design with high-end luminaires, requiring complex design coordination by the lighting team; new guest washrooms; catering kitchen; a conference floor with the design intent that spaces be multipurpose; executive suite; training facility; mail room; office services; and IT on-site services.
SERVICES
Mechanical Engineering | Electrical Engineering | Lighting Design
PROJECT FEATURES
Size: 255,000 ft2 | Status: Completed 2018
LOCATION
Toronto, Ontario
KEY SCOPE ELEMENTS
Toronto's first Triple A office building constructed to and certified LEED Platinum | WELL Gold certified | Intricate lighting design | Flexible work spaces
Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport
Expanded Air Terminal Building
When the new 150,000 ft2 terminal first opened to the public in 2010, the airline expected to almost double the number of passengers from the year before. Phase Two included 10 bridged aircraft gates and two additional passenger lounges. The terminal includes a mix of retail, food services, duty-free, car rentals and other amenities.
The large arrivals hall area, along with the increasing number of people using it, required a specialized heat recovery system. HH Angus designed a high efficiency enthalpy heat wheel system using outdoor air supply.
Among the benefits of this heat recovery system are reduced operating costs from recovering heat that would otherwise be lost by venting to the outside. In turn, this allows for a reduction in the size and capacity needed for the heating and cooling plant that serves the system.
An exterior sprinkler system for the apron area was included in our mechanical design. This system protects building occupants in the event of a jet fuel fire on the tarmac.
Some of the interesting design challenges on this project included the integration of the sanitary sewage system with the existing Terminal system. The Toronto Islands site has no gravity drainage and requires a pumping system for sanitary sewage. Also, the site is a live airport operation, which presented unique challenges regarding phasing of services.
Our elevator system designs responded to user needs for accessibility, safety, reliability and operational efficiency. Based on anticipated traffic numbers, plus luggage, a single large roped-hydraulic elevator (2,270 kgs) serves travelers in the corridor leading from the Ferry Building. Adjacent to this elevator, three reversible escalators serve the large numbers of passengers travelling without luggage, or with small carry-on baggage. These escalators are direction-based upon dynamic requirement.
The terminal’s airside area is separated into domestic and trans-border. Each has been fitted with a single, smaller roped-hydraulic passenger elevator (1590 kgs), and a single reversible escalator for passengers with carry-on bags only, again direction-based on dynamic requirement.
SERVICES
Mechanical Engineering | Vertical Transportation
PROJECT FEATURES
Size: 150,000 ft2 | Status: Completed 2011
LOCATION
Toronto, Ontario
KEY SCOPE ELEMENTS
High efficiency enthalpy heat wheel system using outdoor air supply for arrival hall area | Engineered 10 bridged aircraft gates, 2 new passenger lounges along with a mix of retail, food services, duty-free, car rentals and other amenities | Geothermal heat rejection for cooling plant | Implemented recapture and reuse of all rainwater | Reversible escalator | Exterior sprinkler system for the apron area to protect against fuel fires
eBay Canada
Heritage Building Office Renovation
There were several interesting engineering challenges in designing building systems for these downtown Toronto heritage buildings and connecting corridor bridge.
The first challenge was the heritage designation, which limited what changes could be made without municipal approval. In addition, the building interior is all wood, and it was important to maintain the character of the site. Plus, in order to make the low-height floors look as large as possible, all existing mechanical ductwork had been removed.
The interior design called for open ceilings, so the appearance of the ductwork had to suit the design concept. The first order of business was to establish at what height and location the ductwork could be installed. Adding to the constraints, the ducts needed to be located over the workstations, close to the support columns, and the main corridors kept free.
Another challenge facing the team was fresh air, or rather the lack of it. The floor density of 116 ft2 per person, 242 workstations, 17 meeting rooms, plus a large gathering room and a shopping showcase room pushed the existing building fresh air over its limits. To solve this, an additional fresh air make-up air system had to be installed. Because no additional shafts were possible, we located a courtyard next to the connecting bridge and ran ductwork over the roof and down the back of the building, almost out of sight.
The existing electrical supply consisted of two 200 amp panels at 600 volts, with no power upgrade possible. Our team worked the electrical design to balance the loads and “make the system work”, taking into account the new roof fresh air unit and additional AC systems required for LAN and conference rooms. All of these added to the existing electrical load. A basket tray system at high level looping the furniture was used for wiring and cabling. Our fire protection specialists ensured code compliance for all hoses and sprinklers. They also designed the plumbing, which brought its own challenges as the landlord had stipulated no visible piping.
SERVICES
Mechanical Engineering | Electrical Engineering | Lighting Design | Fire Protection
PROJECT FEATURES
Size: 31,300 ft2 | Status: 2014
LOCATION
Toronto, Ontario
KEY SCOPE ELEMENTS
Work completed within heritage designation | Electrical load balancing to meet additional power load without possibility of power upgrade | Code compliance for all fire protection systems | Landlord restrictions met regarding plumbing and HVAC design
— Images courtesy of Sirlin Giller & Malek Architects
Humber College
Student Welcome & Resource Centre
The Student Welcome and Resource Centre at Humber College provides a high-visibility landmark gateway to the campus, and a highly accessible focal gathering place for students and the public.
The campus gateway is a standalone facility at Colonel Samuel Smith Park, an historic agricultural parkland on the shores of Lake Ontario.
As the mechanical and electrical engineering consultant on the Planning, Design and Compliance (PDC) team, HH Angus contributed to the development of a detailed space program, room layouts and adjacencies, including space data sheets.
Our project scope included developing the design brief and schematic plans for a comprehensive PSOS (Project Specific Output Specifications). The PDC team reviewed all design submissions to ensure full compliance with the original schematic design and PSOS.
The PDC team submitted all necessary planning documents to facilitate development. This included completion of massing and setback drawings to support discussions with city planning to obtain feedback to inform the RFP. The team also attended public meetings and open houses to represent Humber’s interests and answer design-related questions.
SERVICES
Mechanical Engineering | Electrical Engineering | PDC team
PROJECT FEATURES
Size: 43,500 ft2 | Status: Completed 2017
LOCATION
Toronto, Ontario
KEY SCOPE ELEMENTS
Detailed space program, room layouts and adjacencies, including space data sheets | Design brief and schematic plan for comprehensive PSOS | Sustainable design strategies included green roof and large areas of landscaping | Certified LEED silver
Engineering for occupant comfort
Certified LEED Silver, the four-story structure houses 43,500 ft2 of space for student services, cultural facilities, and wellness programs.
Working with nature
Sustainable design strategies included a green roof and large areas of landscaping. Full-height glazing on the east and north elevations maximize daylight harvesting while metal sunscreens and shade trees reduce solar gain in summer.
