DIAMOND SCHMITT ARCHITECTS WINS UTSC ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE AND CHEMISTRY COMPETITION

Diamond Schmitt Architects has won a design competition for the Environmental Science and Chemistry Building for University of Toronto Scarborough.

This is the second building in a new campus precinct and is adjacent to the gateway Instructional Centre, also designed by the firm, which opened in 2011.

The architectural character of masonry and curtainwall extends an identity established by the Instructional Centre and both buildings serve to strengthen the pedestrian realm of this fast-growing new campus precinct with transparent and visual connection to the street.

The 110,000-square-foot facility provides innovative design solutions for sustainable and highly flexible research and study space. The building connects laboratories and academic offices around a skylit forum and crossroads.

The Environmental Science and Chemistry building opens in the summer of 2015.

GLOBE AND MAIL CENTRE BY DIAMOND SCHMITT ARCHITECTS

The 500,000-square-foot Globe and Mail Centre will be the new home of Canada’s national newspaper and will anchor the emerging St. Lawrence neighbourhood as a hub of urban activity and corporate offices.

The tower occupies a block defined by King Street East, Front Street East, Berkeley and Princess Streets, with a public midblock connection between King and Front with retail amenities at grade. A high-performance building envelope and advanced glazing system supplies the energy-efficient LEED Gold candidate tower with daylighting deep into the core.

The 17-storey building presents a sequential stacking of alternate-sized floor plates interlaid with terraces that give the structure a distinctive and contemporary profile. Ten-foot-high windows offer views to the waterfront and city skyline. The media company will occupy Levels 13 through 17 connected by a convenience stair.

The building’s core design allows for flexible workspace configurations to meet current and future needs of a dynamic 24/7 work environment. Level 17 has 15-foot ceilings and floor-to-ceiling vision glass and a 300-seat multipurpose room with adjacent direct roof terrace access.

“The Globe and Mail employees are excited to have the opportunity to move to new offices that will better enable us to create the high quality content and award-winning journalism our customers expect,” said The Globe and Mail Publisher and CEO Phillip Crawley.

“The Globe and Mail Centre will be a symbol of the rapid evolution of The Globe as a multimedia business, as we take advantage of digital delivery platforms and drive culture change.” The building is set to break ground in October with occupancy scheduled for 2016.

Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Architects: Diamond Schmitt Architects

Project Team: Donald Schmitt, David Dow, Michael Lukasik, Branka Gazibara, Steven Bondar, Dale McDowell

Area: 500,000 square foot

LEED: Gold (candidate)

Client: First Gulf

NEW MEXICO HIGHLANDS UNIVERSITY'S NEW STUDENT CENTER BY DIAMOND SCHMITT ARCHITECTS

An innovative and highly sustainable building has opened at New Mexico Highlands University. The Student Union Building is designed to respond to the American Southwest climate and connects the campus with the community of Las Vegas, New Mexico.

The gateway building anchors a key intersection of the university and presents a series of interconnected and transparent volumes that are legible and inviting from the street. Responding to a university need to produce both new and dedicated spaces for student activities in one location, the building organized a mix of one and two-storey program spaces around a three-storey light-filled atrium.

Student lounge spaces on all three floors animate the atrium while this central space acts as a circulation hub connecting the program elements. A key feature is the 75-seat student governance chamber that floats above this central space; to enhance its presence, natural light washes the curved surface of the chamber drum.

Designed by Diamond Schmitt Architects in joint venture with Studio Southwest Architects, this 65,000-square-foot facility has a dramatic exterior cladding of black iron spot brick, Corten steel panels and a glazed aluminum curtain wall. On three sides is one of the first motorized sun tracking louver systems in North America that shades the interior of the building from direct sunlight during the day and opens during the night.

“The louvers are held two feet off the main façade allowing sun shading to the grade levels without compromising transparency and view and the system drastically reduces mechanical loads”, said Martin Davidson, Principal at Diamond Schmitt Architects.

The ground floor contains a versatile ballroom/conference facility, theatre, bookstore, café, post office and cafeteria that opens onto a sheltered courtyard. The upper floors include lounges, a computer lab, student services offices, meeting rooms, a dining area, the student governance chamber and a bridge to an adjacent library.

The third floor is set back under large extending roof planes that reduce the overall scale of the building and provide shade and covered terraces. Future green roofs provide rooftop assembly areas with views to the mountains beyond. The building is targeting LEED Gold certification and a geothermal well field is part of the mechanical energy system.

Diamond Schmitt Architects is a leading full-service architectural firm based in Toronto with an international reputation for design excellence and sustainable design solutions. An extensive portfolio includes academic buildings, libraries, performing arts centres, sports facilities, master plans, residential and commercial buildings. Equally extensive is work completed for healthcare, with life science facilities, research laboratories and hospitals.

Location: Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA 
Architect: Diamond Schmitt Architects 
Partner: Studio Southwest Architects 
Area: 65,000 sf 
Year: 2013 
Client: New Mexico Highlands University

MAISON SYMPHONIQUE DE MONTRÉAL BY DIAMOND SCHMITT ARCHITECTS

The concert hall is designed primarily for unamplified music performance. This includes the entire spectrum of a symphony orchestra and also chamber music, thanks to the adjustable systems of the hall.

These allow to tailor the stage size to the number of artists performing, and to adjust the acoustical environment with motorized reflectors and sound absorbing cloth.

La Maison is a dynamic expression of how architecture shapes music. Clear sightlines, audience comfort and superb acoustics define the concert-going experience in the new home of the acclaimed Montréal Symphony Orchestra under maestro Kent Nagano.

The hall is of “shoebox” design, distinguished among other elements by its relatively narrow, high and long straight geometry with audience seating on multiple balcony levels and surrounding the performers.

These geometric features have proven to deliver a superior acoustic environment and create an intimate relationship between performers and audience. The auditorium meets noise criteria N1, in which the background noise level in the hall is not audible to the human ear.

This is achieved in part by creating a "box within a box‟where the hall is structurally separated from everything surrounding it and sits on rubber and steel pads that prevent the transmission of vibration from the outside. The Symphony hall is designed to be an integral part of Place des Arts – the cultural heart of Montréal.

It is accessible from the street, from the plaza, as well as the subway, and beckons with an extensive glazed curtainwall, double-height reception room and side lobbies that convey a strong visual sense of the activity within, thereby enlivening the public life of the city.

A sculpted roofline soars above the limestone and granite base, extending the form of the wood-lined auditorium. Curved walls and balconies provide the acoustic dimensions of the hall and reinterpret the classic shoebox concert hall design with the exacting curves and proportions of a very large musical instrument.

The architects, in collaboration with the 19th-century Quebec organ manufacturer Cassavant Fréres, , who collaborated with architects Diamond-Schmitt and Ædifica, designed the striking array of organ pipes that grace the wall behind the stage.

The hall is a LEED certified building (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design), promoting sustainable choices in the quality of environments and environmental site management.

 

 

 

Location: Montréal, Canada

Architect: Diamond SchmittArchitects

Project Team: A.J. Diamond, Gary McCluskie, Matthew Lella, Michael Treacy, Earle Briggs, Eric Lucassen, Jessie Waese, Cynthia Carbonneau, Marcin Ludwik Sztaba, Gary Watson
Acoustic Consultants: Artec
Renderings: Cicada Design

Joint Venture: Ædifica

Year: 2011

Client: Québec Government
Photography: Tom Arban, James Brittain

NEW MARIINSKY THEATRE BY DIAMOND SCHMITT ARCHITECTS

The New Mariinsky Theatre opens May 2, 2013 in St. Petersburg, Russia. The design is a contemporary expression of the existing historic urban form.  Mariinsky II is designed to complement St. Petersburg’s beloved 19th century architecture while adding a distinctive new element to the landscape of Theatre Square.

The auditorium, designed in the tradition of 18th and 19th century opera houses, features a horseshoe configuration with three balconies, offering optimum acoustics and sightlines for approximately 2,000 spectators.

The height of the fenestrated masonry base is consistent with the existing buildings of historic St. Petersburg creates a continuous streetscape similar to the streets of the old city. Large bay windows provide panoramic views of the city and the adjacent historic Mariinsky Theatre, fulfilling the role of the historic colonnaded porticos.

Dramatically large glass facades and bay windows set in the masonry exterior will provide panoramic views of the city and the adjacent Mariinsky I, while fulfilling the traditional role of colonnaded porticos.

Above the base of the New Mariinsky Theatre is a gently curved metal roof enlivened by a glass canopy.  The contrast in form, material and colour between the building’s base and its roof gives the building a contemporary identity rooted within the context of St. Petersburg’s exceptional architectural heritage.

The New Mariinsky accommodates a 2000-seat opera and ballet house with a very large back of house with six stages and rehearsal rooms, amenities for the company's large staff and other support facilities.

The auditorium has been carefully designed with respect to acoustics, sight lines and audience comfort to provide both artists and audiences alike with an unparalled experience to compliment the international stature of the Mariinsky Opera, Ballet and Orchestra.

Capacious backstage facilities and advanced technological capabilities, and acoustical design by Müller‐BBM, will allow for the production of the most elaborate and demanding works. An additional orchestra shell on stage and an orchestra pit with platforms that can be raised and lowered will enable Mariinsky II to function as an ideal hall for symphonic concerts as well as opera productions.

Other facilities of Mariinsky II include a rooftop amphitheatre (soon to be a principal space of the Stars of the White Nights Festival), a lobby amphitheatre, multiple rehearsal rooms and backstage space that allows multiple productions to be performed in repertoire.

Jack Diamond, Principal Architect of Diamond Schmitt Architects, stated, “When I was approached by Valery Gergiev to enter the international competition to design the new Mariinsky Theatre, he presented the opportunity to work in one of the world’s most magical architectural settings, not to mention with a Maestro who is justifiably renowned as one the world’s most respected leaders in the performing arts. “

 

 

 

 

 

Location: St. Petersburg, Russia

Architect: Diamond Schmitt Architects

Project Team: A.J.Diamond, Gary McCluskie, Michael Treacy, Michael Lukasik, Mattew Lella

Design Team: Jeremiah Bennett, Jeong Choe, Vincent Goetz, Jim Graves, Eric Lucassen, Dale McDowell, Marina Moukhortova, Doug Richardson, Kristin Speth, Andrea Tocchini, Sybil Wa

Local architect: Anatoly Belov, Nastassia Astrasheuskaya

Renderings: Cicada Design

Area: 851,580 square-foot

Completion: May 2nd, 2013

Client: Ministry of Culture

Photography: Xerx, Lightray