AIA Canada is honoured to present
Webinar | Waterworks Toronto: Adaptive Reuse and Integrated Urban Design in a Heritage Context
Date: Wednesday, July 9, 2025
Time: 12:00 – 1:00 pm ET
CES: 1 AIA LU
Course Number: 2025AIACS08
Provider Name: AIA Canada Society
Provider Number: 100100113
Course Description
This course explores the architectural and urban design strategies behind Waterworks, a hybrid mixed-use development located in downtown Toronto. Through the adaptive reuse of a 1932 Art Deco waterworks facility, the project integrates residential housing, community wellness infrastructure, food-focused retail, and a youth shelter—creating a dynamic civic hub. Participants will gain insight into how heritage conservation, social equity, and contemporary urban needs can be balanced through sensitive design interventions and programmatic integration. The presentation will include an overview of the project’s goals, constraints, design process, and impact on the surrounding urban fabric.
Learning Objectives
Upon completion of this course, participants will be able to:
- Describe methods for adaptive reuse and conservation of heritage industrial buildings within mixed-use urban developments.
- Identify key strategies for integrating diverse community programs—such as housing, wellness facilities, retail, and social services—into a cohesive architectural vision.
- Evaluate how building massing and orientation can preserve heritage features (e.g., daylight access to historic skylights) while accommodating new vertical construction.
- Discuss urban design techniques used to enhance public connectivity, pedestrian flow, and site porosity in dense city environments.
Presenters:
Donald Schmitt |
Donald Schmitt is a well-known Canadian architect whose practice is built on the transformative power of design. As a principal of Diamond Schmitt Architects, he is committed to the design of architecture that transcends convention and enriches everyday life. He is passionate about holistic environmental, social, and economic sustainability practices, with an emphasis on community wellness that simultaneously focuses on craft, design resolution, and proportional elegance.
Don is the Founding Chair of the Public Art Commission for the City of Toronto for which he was awarded the Civic Medal and is currently a member of the University of Toronto Design Review Panel. He served on the Design Review Panel of the National Capital Commission for over a decade and for many years for Waterfront Toronto.
His notable work includes the transformation of two Canadian landmarks, the Senate of Canada Building in Ottawa (2019) and the National Arts Centre in Ottawa (2017); the 21-story Peter Gilgan Centre for Research and Learning at The Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto (2013), the largest child health research center in the world; Emily Carr University of Art + Design in Vancouver; and the compact mixed-use, transit connected, pedestrian oriented SmartCentres Place in Vaughan, at 20 million square feet, one of North America’s ground breaking new urban neighbourhoods.
Donald Schmitt is a Member of the Order of Canada.
Duncan Bates |
Duncan Bates has a broad range of design experience and has made significant contributions as a design leader since joining the firm in 2005. Projects include the envelope of the Peter Gilgan Centre for Research and Learning at Sickkids Hospital and the PwC-YMCA Tower at Vaughan Metropolitan Centre.
As a resident of Guelph, Duncan is pleased to have led the competition-winning proposal for a new central library along with spearheading a master planning exercise to include two additional mixed-use towers and as many as 120 new residential units within the Baker District Redevelopment, a transformational project in downtown Guelph.
As the design and project lead for the Waterworks mixed-use building, Duncan oversaw the design and construction of the heritage adaptive re-use that incorporates a YMCA, considerable European-influenced retail spaces and 290 residential units in downtown Toronto. He is currently overseeing a diverse range of projects including a 510-bed student residence currently under construction in Waterloo and a groundbreaking healthcare facility in Vancouver, scheduled to start construction in September 2025.
Duncan sits on a Region of Waterloo Design Review Panel and has previously participated as a jury member in the selection of public art for the City of Guelph in addition to being a guest critic at a number of post-secondary design institutions.
