SLCan & ASHRAE Toronto Chapters - Designing for Many Lives

What if the most sustainable laboratory building is the one that can continually reinvent itself? 

Catalyst was designed for change. Aligning owner, architect, and engineer around a shared vision, the project balances the demands of specialized laboratory infrastructure, occupant safety, operational resilience, and energy performance with the need for long-term adaptability. A unique utility distribution strategy maximizes flexibility and maintainability while preserving valuable space for science, enabling the building to evolve alongside changing research, technologies, and users. Equally important is an architectural vision that places science on display, fostering collaboration, visibility, and a lasting community of innovation. Catalyst demonstrates how lasting value is created when buildings are designed not for a single purpose or generation of research, but as enduring platforms for scientific discovery, connection, and change. Presented by the owner, architect, and engineer, this session examines how that vision was realized through the delivery of the first purpose-built speculative…