The University of Toronto’s newest venue for research and instruction in ecology and environmental biology aims to reimagine the future of school design while demonstrating how a project can combine sustainable technologies and high design.

UofT’s Koffler Scientific Reserve (KSR), located at Jokers Hill on the Oak Ridges Moraine in King Township, aims to reflect the functions of a traditional college, and was designed to accommodate research students and faculty for extended periods of time.

Designed by Montgomery Sisam Architects, the venue integrates sustainable and environmentally conscious solutions, and boasts a simple yet contemporary design.

Inspired by the work of KSR’s scientists and students, the relationship between macro and micro, and the big scale and little scale became a lens through which the design solutions were evaluated.