University of Toronto reveals design for the Temerty Building, a state-of-the-art facility for health research and education at the heart of the campus
The University of Toronto has revealed design details of the Temerty Building, a 36,000-square-metre extension to the university’s Medical Sciences Building. Designed by MVRDV and Diamond Schmitt Architects in collaboration with Indigenous practice Two Row Architect, the Temerty Building will provide state-of-the-art research and teaching spaces for both the Temerty Faculty of Medicine and the Department of Cell & Systems Biology, which is part of the Faculty of Arts & Science.
The Temerty Building replaces the existing west wing of the Medical Sciences Building, completed in 1969 at the corner of King’s College Road and King’s College Circle. Along with the neoclassical Convocation Hall opposite, the site forms a gateway to Front Campus, the historic heart of the university.
By replacing the outdated and inflexible west wing, the project provides a modern facility to support the university's evolving research and education missions, including specialised facilities for infectious disease research and aquatic disease models. It not only addresses the growing spatial demands of the two faculties that will make it their home, it also creates a vibrant hub for learning and interdisciplinary exploration – uniting diverse talent from different disciplines to tackle complex scientific challenges.
Primarily a research facility, the Temerty Building allocates approximately 60 percent of its total area to research space. It will serve as an important centrepiece of the campus – a place where researchers, educators, and students will gather to share ideas and find answers to critical questions in science and healthcare.
At the same time, in response to its central location within the university’s St. George Campus, the project provides both communal areas and flexible, multi-purpose spaces that will make the new building an active participant in the intellectual, social, and ceremonial life of the university as a whole.
The ground floor is open and welcoming, with a generous communal hall facing King’s College Circle. This triple-height space, inspired by Haudenosaunee longhouses, can serve as a casual meeting-place throughout the year, while playing a role in graduation ceremonies as a secondary audience space. In the south-western corner of the building, the design features spaces for the university’s Elders and Knowledge Keepers, while the landscape outside the building in this corner features an Indigenous teaching garden. The central part of the ground floor has a flexible plan, with moveable walls that allow it to transform from studio learning spaces to an open-plan space for events, such as a graduation staging area.
Beyond its functional role, the Temerty Building integrates into its surroundings in a number of ways. Its shape was inspired by local geology, echoing the escarpments that are characteristic of the Toronto region. “We are designing with the land, not on it, guided by the original laws and teachings that shape how we live and care for one another,” notes Erik Skouris of Two Row Architect.
The glass and sandstone façade is designed for transparency, especially around the communal spaces of the lower floors, with a vertical emphasis in its design that speaks to the Gothic influences of the other buildings on King’s College Circle, and gently curved corners that reflect the curving colonnade and columns of Convocation Hall. The building incorporates renewable energy generation, while the basement level houses a new district energy nodal plant, providing heating and cooling to surrounding buildings as part of the university’s aim to become climate-positive by 2050.
Above the ground floor, the design features another level of flexible classrooms and seminar rooms, while labs occupy the seven floors above. Each lab floor is broken into three distinct areas: the wet laboratory, the dry laboratory, and an open social space, to facilitate collaboration and foster a strong sense of community. The design prioritises seamless integration with the Medical Sciences Building, connecting with the existing building’s corridors to create easily navigable loops and introduce natural light to the circulation spaces.
With its focus on communal space, inclusivity, and cross-disciplinary interaction, the Temerty Building will provide a new face for not one, but two of the University of Toronto’s distinguished faculties, giving Temerty Medicine and Arts & Science a prominent, gregarious presence at the centre of university life.
The Temerty Building was designed by MVRDV and Diamond Schmitt Architects in collaboration with Two Row Architect, for the University of Toronto. The project was first initiated by Temerty Medicine’s 2018–2023 Academic Strategic Plan, and was made possible in large part by a $250 million donation to the University of Toronto made by James and Louise Temerty in 2020, a significant portion of which was directed towards the new building. Work on the site is expected to begin in the second half of 2026, starting with preparatory work on the existing West Wing of the Medical Sciences Building starting in July. The Temerty Building is the second collaboration between Diamond Schmitt and MVRDV for the University of Toronto: the Myron and Berna Garron Health Sciences Complex, at the university’s Scarborough campus, is scheduled for completion later this year.
Team:
Architect: MVRDV + Diamond Schmitt
MVRDV Founding Partner: Nathalie de Vries
MVRDV Partner: Frans de Witte
MVRDV Design Team: Fedor Bron, Vanessa Kassabian, Mick van Gemert, Matteo Gramellini, Fouad Addou, Thiago Maso, Loreta Lukoseviciene, Gabriel Perucchi, Nicolás Garín Odriozola, Chantal Besteman, Sofia Elisavet Gkegka, Xiaohu Yan, Martyna Maciaszek, Alberto Canton, Diego Lopez Quintana, Fabian Koppers, Nick Boer, Dominika Bednarek, Jixuan Li, Leyla Godfrey, Mateusz Semak
Diamond Schmitt Principals: Donald Schmitt, David Dow
Diamond Schmitt Design Team: Graeme Reed, Walton Chan, Harvey Wu, Martin Kristensen, Mojdeh Vali, Nadia Mulji, Timothy Birchard, Dejan Mojic, Jamie Li, Thilani Rajarathna, Daniel Sebaldt, Shane de Faoite, Inma Casero Fuentes, Victor Lima, Brandon Griffin
In collaboration with: Two Row Architect
Two Row Design Team: Erik Skouris
Copyright: MVRDV Winy Maas, Jacob van Rijs, Nathalie de Vries + Diamond Schmitt Architects
Partners:
Contractor: Graham Ball
Landscape architect: Michael Van Valkenburgh
Structural engineer: RJC MEP: Smith & Andersen
Cost calculation: Graham Ball
Building Physics: RDH
Environmental advisor: RDH, RWDI
