Site Plan

Seton NetZero Energy Mixed-use Building

This mixed-use building is part of walkable and pedestrian-friendly master-planned residential community of Seton that will include schools, parks, a cinema, shops, recreation facilities & other amenities.

We were approached by Avalon to design a mass timber NetZero-energy building to embody the goals and aspirations of their company’s dedication to sustainability initiatives. The main floor of this five-storey, 6,336 m² / 68,200 ft² mixed-use building hosts the new location for Avalon’s head office as well as several other commercial spaces. Avalon’s office features open workstation areas, a fitness facility, boardrooms, a lunchroom, facilities management areas, universal bathrooms, a lobby, and equipment storage. The building also has a one-level underground parkade.

Four storeys of residential units are above the commercial floor, together comprising 56 residential units ranging from 675ft² to 1148ft². The one and two-bedroom unit configurations and each equipped with ensuite laundry.

We were interested in studying whether mass-timber structures could respond more directly to program; the lower office level requiring open flexible floor plans with taller spatial requirements, the upper two-bedroom units being contained between demising walls, and one-bedroom units being narrower yet. A parti was developed from observing the natural hierarchical structure of a tree from trunk to branch, to twig and how those structural parameters can inform the organization of program. This principle transpires through the articulation of balconies, glazing, and material joints; metaphorical abstractions of an organic form.

In the end, mass timber construction was ruled out given that this scale of building doesn’t require the fire resistance ratings that mass timber provides. However, the idea of the natural hierarchy of a tree remains intact in the ultimate design.

This project is located on the same site as the Seton Townhouses that Gravity also designed for Avalon.

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