Greem Roof Innovation Testing (GRIT) Laboratory

UNIVERSITY of toronto

Location: Toronto, Ontario 
Gross Area: Interior 30 sm [325 sqft], Green Roof 800 sm [7,500 sqft]

project summary

The GRIT Lab (Green Roof Innovation Testing Laboratory) at the John H. Daniels Faculty of Landscape, Architecture, and Design at the University of Toronto is a green roof research facility which investigates the technical performance of various design approaches and installations with regard to sustainability and mitigation of other environmental factors such as stormwater and heat island management.

BSN Architects collaborated closely with faculty members to establish the facility program and sought their creative input in the design of the Lab. It is located within and on the roof of the Daniels Building at One Spading Crescent, a new teaching and research facility consisting of a neo-gothic heritage building with a large modern addition. Creative solutions were found for the location of the Lab and its various components. The analysis lab is located within a previously unused attic between the new and the original structure, accessed through a 3rd floor mezzanine in the student studios in the new addition. The green roof research areas are located to take advantage of a range of conditions: the large flat area atop the mechanical penthouse, sloped roofs of the heritage building, and other incidental flat roof areas. The rooftop research is augmented with ground level landscape installations and cisterns. A current research priority of the GRIT Lab is Low Impact Design, an approach to manage storm water runoff through landscape design interventions.