The Conestoga College Skilled Trades Campus Phase 2 is the college’s first purpose-built facility designed to unify the region’s skilled trades, bringing together specialized disciplines—carpentry, automotive and EV, truck and coach, heavy-duty machinery, and welding—into an environment that breaks down traditional educational silos and fosters cross-disciplinary collaboration.

Supporting students beyond the classroom, the design integrates lifestyle and wellness amenities alongside these high-intensity industrial workshops. Students can transition from the shop floor to a fitness facility with a full gymnasium and strength training studio, an e-sports arena, or outdoor basketball and pickleball courts.

This programmatic mix is organised along a central two-storey spine running the length of the building, housing classrooms, laboratories, and administrative offices. Deep recesses break down the building mass, flooding the interior with natural light. Clerestory windows, glazed garage doors, and interconnected floor volumes carry daylight down to the ground floor and motive shops, and double-height social spaces with floor-to-ceiling glazing create bright, open areas for studying and gathering.

Outside, a canopy connects Phase 2 to Phase 1 and anchors a landscape of native plantings, bioswales, and an Indigenous Gathering Circle. Developed alongside the College’s Indigenous Advisory Board, the Circle draws inspiration from an Indigenous drum, formed by a radial pattern of angled glulam columns and beams that frame a central oculus. The mass timber structure serves as a canvas for site-specific storytelling, weaving together references to the Two Row Wampum Belt and the One Dish, One Spoon treaty alongside work by Anishinaabe artist Jackie Traverse, who consulted with local First Nations communities. The artwork will reference the natural landscape, the night sky, and Indigenous heritage, while honouring the legacy of the Mohawk Skywalkers — whose ironworking tradition connects directly to the welding programs next door.

The building’s sustainability ambitions are equally significant. A high-performance insulated envelope, rooftop PV arrays, and a regional-first open-loop geothermal system are projected to deliver a 77% reduction in greenhouse gases, a 60% reduction in Energy Use Intensity, and a 48% cut in energy costs. Mass timber CLT roof decks spanning the lobby, fitness area, classrooms, exterior canopies, and gathering circle complement these systems by sequestering carbon directly into the building structure.