{"id":18497,"date":"2026-04-24T21:08:33","date_gmt":"2026-04-24T21:08:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/18497\/"},"modified":"2026-04-24T21:08:33","modified_gmt":"2026-04-24T21:08:33","slug":"diamond-schmitt-and-mvrdv-reveal-design-for-terraced-research-building","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/18497\/","title":{"rendered":"Diamond Schmitt and MVRDV reveal design for terraced research building"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Architecture studios Diamond Schmitt, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dezeen.com\/tag\/mvrdv\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">MVRDV<\/a> and Two Row Architect have revealed the design for the Temerty Building at the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dezeen.com\/tag\/university-of-toronto\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">University of Toronto<\/a>, a research building informed by Indigenous design principles.<\/p>\n<p>The building will be located on the edge of a campus lawn at the University of Toronto St George campus and host the Temerty Faculty of Medicine and the Faculty of Arts &amp; Science&#8217;s Department of Cell Systems Biology.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-2320679 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/temerty-building-toronto-diamond-schmitt-mvrdv_dezeen_2364_col_9-852x475.jpg\" alt=\"MVRDV Diamond Schmitt\" width=\"2364\" height=\"1318\"   loading=\"lazy\"\/>Diamond Schmitt, MVRDV and Two Row Architecture have revealed designs for a research building at the University of Toronto<\/p>\n<p>At nine storeys, the building will contain two lower teaching floors and seven floors of labs, as well as a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dezeen.com\/tag\/green-roofs\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">green roof<\/a> and pocket terraces that will contain plantings associated with the four sacred medicines \u2013 cedar, sage, sweetgrass, and tobacco, according to the team.<\/p>\n<p>Renders show a stepped, rectangular building with softened corners. An off-white, skeletal cladding of stone wraps the building, expanding and contracting depending on placement.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-2320680 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/temerty-building-toronto-diamond-schmitt-mvrdv_dezeen_2364_col_8-852x479.jpg\" alt=\"MVRDV Diamond Schmitt\" width=\"2364\" height=\"1329\"   loading=\"lazy\"\/>The building will contain teaching floors and labs<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The Temerty Building&#8217;s design is about bridging worlds,&#8221; said <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dezeen.com\/tag\/diamond-schmitt-architects\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Diamond Schmitt<\/a> principal Don Schmitt. &#8220;It prioritises functionality and durability but also ensures the building will be warm and inviting.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>According to the team, the building was designed following Indigenous design principles, guided by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tworow.com\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Two Row Architect<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dezeen.com\/2026\/04\/08\/toronto-line-five-stations-arcadis\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<img width=\"191\" height=\"191\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/line-5-toronto-metro-stations-arcadis_dezeen_2364_sq3-191x191.jpg\" class=\"excludeLightbox wp-post-image\" alt=\"Metro station in Toronto\" decoding=\"async\" data-pin-nopin=\"true\"   loading=\"lazy\"\/><\/p>\n<p> Toronto completes one of largest North American underground rail lines in decades\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s massing references regional geological formations, such as the Niagara Escarpment and historic shoreline of Lake Iroquois, while its medicinal landscape &#8220;embeds Indigenous knowledge and practices within the daily life of the building&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We are designing with the land, not on it, guided by the original laws and teachings that shape how we live and care for one another,&#8221; said Two Row Architect designer Erik Skouris.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-2320682 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/temerty-building-toronto-diamond-schmitt-mvrdv_dezeen_2364_col_6-852x479.jpg\" alt=\"MVRDV Diamond Schmitt\" width=\"2364\" height=\"1330\"   loading=\"lazy\"\/>The interior is clad in wood<\/p>\n<p>Interior renders show a wooden structural system and cladded ceilings. On the ground level, double-height windows open onto the campus beyond.<\/p>\n<p>The building will be organised around an atrium, which will be the &#8220;social heart of the building&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-2320684 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/temerty-building-toronto-diamond-schmitt-mvrdv_dezeen_2364_col_4-852x479.jpg\" alt=\"MVRDV Diamond Schmitt\" width=\"2364\" height=\"1329\"   loading=\"lazy\"\/>The building abuts a campus lawn<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Not only does the design provide excellent research and learning facilities, it offers generous and stimulating communal spaces for people to forge connections and exchange ideas \u2013 creating the productive friction that characterises many of the best research institutes,&#8221; said MVRDV founding partner Nathalie de Vries.<\/p>\n<p>Pre-construction on the project will begin later this year, according to the team.<\/p>\n<p>MVRDV also recently <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dezeen.com\/2026\/01\/19\/inaura-skyscraper-mvrdv-dubai-uae\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">unveiled designs for a Dubai skyscraper<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dezeen.com\/2025\/12\/12\/plum-village-buddhist-monastery-mvrdv\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">a revamp to a Buddhist\u00a0monastery in France<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The images are by MVRDV and Diamond Schmitt<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Architecture studios Diamond Schmitt, MVRDV and Two Row Architect have revealed the design for the Temerty Building at&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":18498,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[17,9386,9352,1606,1607,1609,48,9385,1062],"class_list":{"0":"post-18497","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-toronto","8":"tag-canada","9":"tag-diamond-schmitt-architects","10":"tag-mvrdv","11":"tag-sectionall","12":"tag-sectionarchitecture","13":"tag-sectionnews","14":"tag-toronto","15":"tag-universities","16":"tag-university-of-toronto"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18497","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18497"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18497\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18498"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18497"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18497"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18497"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}