Waterfront Innovation Centre

Background & Project Details:

In 2015, The City of Toronto and Waterfront Toronto put out a call for a cutting-edge workspace that could revolutionize how employees work together in the city’s rapidly expanding creative and technology sectors. Sweeny & Co Architects partnered with Menkes Development to propose a modern, 475,000 sq ft, uniquely designed commercial space that would make an impressive addition to the Toronto cityscape. The partnership’s winning entry not only exceeded program requirements, but notably created publicly accessible amenities in harmony with the high value employment spaces.

The Waterfront Innovation Centre (WIC) features two distinct programmatic areas across both buildings, the “Hive” and the “Nexus”. The Hive provides an adaptable, high performance secured workplace offering leasable space for more than 2,000 employees on the waterfront, while the Nexus serves as a convergence space for both the public and the buildings’ tenants in a shared, accessible, and double-height amenity.

Overall, the building offers 7 outdoor terraces, two of which are accessible to the public with the remainder enjoyed solely by the building tenants. Achieving LEED v4.1 Platinum Core & Shell, the building was designed to optimize key sustainable strategies and includes features such as raised floor ventilation that distributes cooled air in a high pressure, low energy underfloor plenum by which the tenant accesses both supply air and all cable management in a plug and play system. This building not only provides a public destination at the Waterfront but offers an exclusive space for companies looking to attract top talent.

Why Somfy?

Somfy powered shading solutions create flexibility for controlling and monitoring individual blinds, rooms, entire floors, or entire buildings at the press of a button. The motors and control systems integrate with lighting and climate control systems or building automation systems for seamless everyday operation. Combining weather sensors, timers, and both central and individual control units, motorized solutions from Somfy encourage the use of natural lighting and help save on artificial lighting costs. A perfect option for any office space, motorized shades can help filter out unwanted glare and provide complete darkness during presentations.

For this project, Somfy's animeo® IP Solar Management system was chosen for the automated solar shading system. The Base Building system for solar shading was automated using animeo® IP connected to a weather station on the roof of the building to help facilitate automated control of the solar shades in the Amenity spaces. Control switches are conveniently located for local zone control of the automated shading system. During unoccupancy, animeo® IP will continue its automation based on exterior weather conditions and Facility Management can adjust the current position and monitor the status and feedback of the solar shading system at all times.

The Team

Somfy has made professional customer and consumer satisfaction an essential cornerstone of its business strategy. The quality of the products and services is at the heart of this objective and allows Somfy the opportunity to continuously improve user experience operational Somfy’s robust quality management system ensures only the highest quality materials enter production, allowing for constant expansion and innovation of the wide range of products, connected systems, and services that Somfy provides.

The biggest challenge in designing and developing the right infrastructure for high performance facades with dynamic solar shading is the need for expert insight in the design and specification of the control solutions. Somfy's dedicated team of specification managers, support specialists, and project services teams are readily available to help you with your project, no matter the size. Somfy is your partner in every phase of the project lifecycle. From early planning to maintenance and modernization – securing the system's lifetime and optimal performance – Somfy’s local support teams will play distinct roles in every stage of your project.