The design uses a mid-rise, T-shaped form to extend and complete the existing campus. Its east and west residential volumes help define new courtyards and landscapes while strengthening pedestrian connections through Trinity College. Within those volumes, repeating residential layouts boast an efficient structural rhythm, one of several ways the housing program and mass timber design evolved together.
Sustainability is embedded throughout the building’s design and operation. Certified LEED Platinum and CaGBC Zero Carbon Design, the Lawson Centre combines a low-carbon, hybrid mass timber structure and high-performance envelope with electric building systems, including geothermal-source heating and cooling. Its environmental strategy touches everyday student life through natural daylight, views to nature, exposed wood interiors, and opportunities to participate in food production and sustainable living. The result is a high-performance building that makes sustainability part of the experience of living and learning at Trinity.
Behind the finished building is a mass timber story that began well before the project broke ground. Its structure reflects a series of choices that shaped both how the building was constructed and how it is experienced today. These ten timber facts take a closer look at the design, materials, and methods behind the Lawson Centre’s distinctive wood structure.
Trinity College’s new Lawson Centre for Sustainability brings housing, learning, and community together in a 14,450-m² addition to its historic campus at the University of Toronto. Designed by Mecanoo in collaboration with RDHA, the mixed-use mass timber building combines a 357-bed student residence with academic offices, seminar and study spaces, a lecture hall, food services, a teaching kitchen, and an event pavilion.
The 262-unit residence has single- and double-occupancy rooms with shared washrooms, as well as self-contained studios with kitchenettes and in-suite washrooms. 15 per cent of each room type provides barrier-free accommodation.
FEATURE
Living + Learning:
Ten timber facts from the Lawson Centre for Sustainability
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The Lawson Centre’s primary timber structure uses glulam posts and beams with CLT floor slabs, roof decking, and demising walls. Concrete foundations, elevator cores, and stairwells, along with strategically integrated steel components, complement the timber system where their structural properties are best suited.
Mass timber was a design driver from the outset. The repeating residential layouts created a natural rhythm for the hybrid structure, with room dimensions and structural spans developed around timber performance. Even the building’s north-south form was optimized in accordance with available CLT panel lengths to reduce the number of crane picks required during assembly.
Combining student residences with academic, dining, and gathering spaces introduced additional design considerations for the mass timber building. Meeting Toronto’s fire-code requirements was a particular focus, requiring careful detailing of fire separations within a regulatory environment for mass timber that continued to evolve as the project progressed.
Element5 fabricated the mass timber components at its St. Thomas facility using sustainably harvested Ontario SPF lumber. The local approach extended beyond the wood, with almost all major building materials sourced in Ontario.
The Construction Manager at Risk model brought Graham Construction and key design-assist expertise into the process early. Blackwell, Element5, ASPECT Structural Engineers, and Seagate Mass Timber contributed structural, fabrication, connection, and installation expertise, enabling construction requirements and sequencing to inform the design before fabrication.
Connection engineering plays an important role in translating mass timber structural design into fabrication and construction. ASPECT Structural Engineers provided this service for the Lawson Centre, developing connection solutions that balanced strength and stiffness with architectural intent, fire safety, manufacturability, and constructability. Construction sequencing also influenced the details, including decisions between welded and standard bolted assemblies.
Mass timber panels and beams were manufactured off-site with precision-cut openings for pipes, wiring, and ductwork already incorporated. Coordinating building services before fabrication allowed components to arrive ready for installation, reducing the need for cutting and other modifications on site.
Seagate Mass Timber began installation with the East Wing in early 2024, completing its structural timber and roof by June before moving through the Centre Wing and remaining areas. The final structural beams were installed in February 2025, marking a major construction milestone on the path to the Lawson Centre’s opening in September 2026.
Graham Construction developed a dedicated moisture management plan to manage weather exposure during construction. Element5’s prefabricated CLIPs (Cross-Laminated Insulated Panels) helped accelerate enclosure, reducing the amount of time the timber structure was exposed to the elements.
Wherever possible, the glulam and CLT surfaces have been left exposed as part of the interior architecture. The visible wood brings warmth and texture to residential and communal spaces, supporting the building’s biophilic design and shaping the everyday experience of occupants.
For all the mechanical precision involved in designing, fabricating, and constructing the Lawson Centre, its ultimate purpose is more human: creating a place for hundreds of students to live. Trinity and Mecanoo describe the residential vision as a “home away from home” for a diverse student community.
“At Trinity College, we wanted to create an inspirational and healthy living and learning environment for our community, and the Lawson Centre for Sustainability does exactly that,” says Professor Nicholas Terpstra, Provost & Vice-Chancellor, Trinity College. “There is something remarkable about entering a facility where the structure itself tells a story. The beauty of the exposed wood interiors enhances a sense of wellbeing by activating a biophilic response similar to being exposed to nature. The Lawson Centre for Sustainability allows us to experience sustainability in a meaningful way and gives us a visible reminder of what is possible when innovative design, sustainability, and wellbeing come together. It's a purposeful and modern building that complements our historic campus and reflects Trinity College's values and commitment to building a more sustainable future.”
In that sense, the Lawson Centre is as much a residential project as it is an academic or sustainability-focused one. Its 357 beds bring significantly more students into the daily life of the campus, while the design considers what happens beyond the individual room: how residents gather, connect, study, share meals, and feel at home. It is a useful reminder that building housing is ultimately about creating places to live, and that the materials and systems used to construct them contribute meaningfully to that experience.
The Lawson Centre’s primary timber structure uses glulam posts and beams with CLT floor slabs, roof decking, and demising walls. Concrete foundations, elevator cores, and stairwells, along with strategically integrated steel components, complement the timber system where their structural properties are best suited.
Mass timber was a design driver from the outset. The repeating residential layouts created a natural rhythm for the hybrid structure, with room dimensions and structural spans developed around timber performance. Even the building’s north-south form was optimized in accordance with available CLT panel lengths to reduce the number of crane picks required during assembly.
Subsection 2
Combining student residences with academic, dining, and gathering spaces introduced additional design considerations for the mass timber building. Meeting Toronto’s fire-code requirements was a particular focus, requiring careful detailing of fire separations within a regulatory environment for mass timber that continued to evolve as the project progressed.
Subsection 2
Element5 fabricated the mass timber components at its St. Thomas facility using sustainably harvested Ontario SPF lumber. The local approach extended beyond the wood, with almost all major building materials sourced in Ontario.
Subsection 2
The Construction Manager at Risk model brought Graham Construction and key design-assist expertise into the process early. Blackwell, Element5, ASPECT Structural Engineers, and Seagate Mass Timber contributed structural, fabrication, connection, and installation expertise, enabling construction requirements and sequencing to inform the design before fabrication.
Subsection 2
Connection engineering plays an important role in translating mass timber structural design into fabrication and construction. ASPECT Structural Engineers provided this service for the Lawson Centre, developing connection solutions that balanced strength and stiffness with architectural intent, fire safety, manufacturability, and constructability. Construction sequencing also influenced the details, including decisions between welded and standard bolted assemblies.
Subsection 2
Mass timber panels and beams were manufactured off-site with precision-cut openings for pipes, wiring, and ductwork already incorporated. Coordinating building services before fabrication allowed components to arrive ready for installation, reducing the need for cutting and other modifications on site.
Subsection 2
Seagate Mass Timber began installation with the East Wing in early 2024, completing its structural timber and roof by June before moving through the Centre Wing and remaining areas. The final structural beams were installed in February 2025, marking a major construction milestone on the path to the Lawson Centre’s opening in September 2026.
Subsection 2
Graham Construction developed a dedicated moisture management plan to manage weather exposure during construction. Element5’s prefabricated CLIPs (Cross-Laminated Insulated Panels) helped accelerate enclosure, reducing the amount of time the timber structure was exposed to the elements.
Subsection 2
Wherever possible, the glulam and CLT surfaces have been left exposed as part of the interior architecture. The visible wood brings warmth and texture to residential and communal spaces, supporting the building’s biophilic design and shaping the everyday experience of occupants.
Subsection 3