THE URBANIST’S WOODLAND LIBRARY

PUBLIC BUILDING, 2021, Toronto

The Urbanist’s Woodland Library is a community space that brings the great outdoors into the city. Situated so that the Woodland Library creates a secluded courtyard with the Foundry buildings and has close proximity to multiple parks nearby including the Corktown Commons, Lawrence Harris Square, and the Underpass Park. With the city built up with so much hardscaped spaces the library brings native vegetation back into the cityscape by creating this forested area both inside and outside the library. The green space surrounding the library helps to reduce flooding due to water runoff in the surrounding areas and the library itself was designed vernacularly to be sustainable. Natural materials and textures are utilized alongside biophilic design methods to create a forest in the city that can allow the occupants to be calm and relax in a natural environment. The Urbanist’s Woodland Library helps branch the urban environment back to a more natural state and allows users to reengage with the outdoors and sustainable practices.

SUSTAINABILITY STATEMENT

This project brings forward a biophilic design that I hope encourages occupants to step into nature and make a strong connection with the natural world around them. Outdoor greenery is added to capture more carbon and filter the air. On a more tectonic level, passive solar heating is used on the southernmost window to help heat the top floor in the winter and the windows open to provide ventilation in the summer. The structure is made of mass timber, but the floors are covered in a tile that provides thermal massing. Geothermal is used to supply the heating and cooling to the building as well has having natural shading from the trees on the bottom floor. On the top floor, temperature controlling blinds can be lowered to allow less direct sunlight into the space. A green roof is located on top of the library roof to allow for water collection and less runoff during storms.