blogTO: Humber Cultural Hub is one of the most gorgeous buildings completed in 2024
blogTO annually recognizes Toronto's most remarkable buildings and public spaces completed over the past twelve months, recognizing those projects that have introduced new landmarks to the city, or restoring historic buildings to their former glory. This year, among blogTO’s top five most gorgeous buildings of 2024 is the Humber Cultural Hub (HCH). This transformative 325,000-square-foot facility brings the college’s previously dispersed creative faculties together into one space designed to foster cross-disciplinary collaboration and innovation as the college’s new Faculty of Media and Creative Arts.
Envisioned as a catalyst for cultivating the next generation of artistic, cultural, and creative leaders, the facility also features a 318-bed encapsulated mass timber student residence. Clad in metal composite panels that create a play of light as the sun moves throughout the day, the textures and rhythm of the building’s exterior envelope expresses a reflective and non-reflective surface that visually represents musical syncopation.
The eight-storey building is constructed with sustainability at its core while enhancing connectivity to the surrounding parklands. Apart from the encapsulated mass timber student residence, which greatly reduces the building's carbon footprint, the design of HCH incorporates other sustainable features such as ground-source heat pumps, energy efficiency, and solar panels.
These efforts have earned the building certification under the Zero Carbon Building – Design Standard v1 by the Canada Green Building Council making it the largest Zero Carbon design-certified development for a university or college in Ontario.
The Humber Cultural Hub stands alongside other four other notable projects completed in Toronto this year, selected by blogTO, including the restored heritage building at 2 Queen Street West by Zeidler Architecture, the Spirit Garden at Nathan Phillips Square designed by Two Row Architect, Leslie Lookout Park’s transformation into a scenic destination, and the sleek Toronto House tower by Hariri Pontarini Architects. Each project contributes to the city’s evolving architectural landscape.
The article appears on blogTO.