Construction is slated to get underway this spring on a six-storey “Class A” office building in the Innovation District of downtown Kitchener, Ont.
Designed by Diamond Schmitt Architects for Perimeter Development Corporation, the 120,000-square-foot building at 345 King St. W. is the first such “Class A” tower to be built downtown in 25 years.
The project, scheduled for completion in 2020, is viewed as a key element in the revitalization of the city’s downtown core. LEED Gold is being targeted.
“It’s great to be part of the regeneration of Kitchener,” says David Dow, principal at Diamond Schmitt.
“The city has made major inroads in its urban renewal by providing for transit infrastructure and redevelopment to accommodate a burgeoning high-tech business sector in the Innovation District.”
Perimeter acquired the site last year after the land was declared surplus by the city.
Dow said the property is strategically located steps from a new regional LRT line opening this year, three blocks from an existing Via Rail/GO Transit station and minutes from a future multi-modal transit hub.
The project is being undertaken by a team that includes civil and structural engineering consultants MTE Consultants Inc., mechanical and electrical consultants DEI & Associates Inc., and planners and landscape architects GSP Group Inc.
Construction manager is First Gulf. Dow said key trades have not yet been retained.
The building will feature at grade retail space, a sheltered pedestrian colonnade, a glass exterior on King Street, a two-storey lobby, 14-foot ceilings and two levels of below-grade parking.
Dow said a high-performance building envelope allows for floor-to-ceiling glazing across the north and south facades “with daylight penetration deep into the core.”
Options are currently under review for the side elevations, he said. Alternatives include precast concrete panels or an opaque rain-screen cladding system with a ribbon-glazing system.
The project is scaled to provide context with adjacent properties. An angled roof line “mediates views” to a neighbouring office building, he adds.
The top two floors will be occupied by lead tenant Gowling WLG, an international law firm. The sixth floor steps back to accommodate a terrace.
Terracing is deemed an emerging trend in office design, Dow said.
LEED Gold certification will be obtained by “closely targeting” the rating system’s scorecard in a number of areas, he said.
These include an integrative process, location and transportation, sustainable site (rainwater management, heat island effect reduction), water efficiency and indoor environmental quality — daylighting and specification of low-VOC emitting materials.
Dow said construction is not expected to pose any particular challenges. Costs have not been disclosed.
Diamond Schmitt was retained to design the building in 2016. Its previous projects in the Kitchener-Waterloo area include Lazaridis Hall at Wilfrid Laurier University, designed in association with David Thompson Architects, and an expansion at St. Jerome’s University which is affiliated with the University of Waterloo.
That project was delivered with Graham Construction using an Integrated Project Delivery (IPD) model, one of the first such IPD projects in Canada.
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