August 19, 2009

RAW DESIGN

The showroom of the MINI dealership in Toronto.

Toronto MINI dealership going for green

PATRICIA WILLIAMS

staff writer

Toronto’s Raw Design is creating a green environment for BMW Canada’s first full-service MINI dealership.

Mirroring the brand’s fuel-efficient environmental focus, the 20,000-square-foot flagship facility on Eastern Avenue in Toronto will feature a green roof, a solar thermal hot water system and an efficient “foamed-in-place” insulation system.

A stormwater detention plan will be incorporated into the project, allowing reuse of rainwater for landscape irrigation.

The dealership, now under construction, features extensive glazing. The project will blend raw design’s “vivid aesthetic with the graphic sensibility” of the MINI brand, the architectural studio said.

RAW DESIGN

The design of the facility is intended to capture the energy of the MINI brand.

“The design captures the energy of the MINI brand through a straightforward modulation of rectangular showroom areas, which can be viewed as cars sweep up the curve of Eastern Avenue or onto the Don Valley Parkway,” said director Roland Rom Colthoff.

The $6 million project is being undertaken by a team that includes construction manager Urbacon, structural engineers Banerjee & Associates, mechanical-electrical engineers Able Engineering, civil engineers MMM Group and landscape architects The Planning Partnership.

In an interview, Colthoff said one of the challenges from a design perspective involved fitting a building “which demands a rectangular image and layout” into a triangular site.

The building has no “backyard,” he said. Every façade faces a street.

The project is expected to be completed in 2010.

Raw design was this year’s recipient of the Ontario Association of Architects’ best emerging practice award. The 16-person firm is located on downtown Mercer Street.

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