A poor example of brutalist architecture, the existing building on this site was used as a vocational school by the former York Board of Education. Due to changes in demographics, the site and the building were ceded to the Toronto Catholic District School Board (TCDSB).
Upon visiting the site two eerily events took place.
On top of the slope adjacent to the undulating playing field, I spoke to a man cultivating his tomato patch. He had been living in his house for many years and remembered that when the playing field was new it was used by the Toronto Argonauts for practicing. Within a few years, dips and mounds began to appear; puddles formed, and drainage was no longer possible. While he was telling me this, one of my consultants came up the slope and upon reaching the top, pulled out a cigarette and was about to click the lighter when the tomato man yelled out not to. To no avail. Suddenly a thin bluish flame appeared, and the consultant dropped the lighter, threw away the cigarette and padded his moustache. The tomato man smiling, after we ascertained that no one was hurt, said that the field was sitting over a garbage dump.
We descended the slope and walked into the building. Although it was during the height of summer, the empty concrete walls echoed not only our steps but the innate coldness of the materials. We approached the office area and waiting outside the door was the newly appointed Principal.
We introduced each other and suddenly we heard a crackling noise coming from the end of the wide and long hallway. Within seconds we noticed the floor tiles being lifted from the floor. It was an eerily poltergeist moment.
Even before thinking of architecture, we had to figure out how to safeguard the school community from the methane gas that was being generated from the garbage, not only in the field but the structure that was built upon it as well. I thought how apropos for a brutal structure here.
These two inherited conditions became key elements in the design of the new school.
The design incorporated the renovation of the existing building and a three-story addition. The glass, brick and metal panels of the addition contrasted immensely with the existing grey-cold structure. The two elements were connected with an enclosed bridge.
To mitigate the methane issue, a series of partially enclosed exterior courtyards became part of the overall design, resulting in a facility of 15,000 square metres. The renovated structure was able to provide the required normal classrooms, plus, the addition housed a new entrance, the library and the chapel on the ground floor. Computer and science spaces are on the upper two floors.
The chapel, a key component of the facility, is seen as a single volume, full of light emanating from walls and ceilings. The design of its interior was defined by the simplicity and honesty predicated by Romero’s character and beliefs. It was to become a retreat for students and teachers from the daily routine of the curriculum and from life’s pressures. Spiritual preparation begins along the cloistered hallway, bordered on each side by the library and a courtyard.
For the community, long forgotten by the authorities, the project heralded new things to come. It was seen as a catalyst for the rejuvenation of a stretch of Black Creek which was relegated to a mere brutal ditch typical of previous municipal administrators and the potential City Centre at the intersection of two main arterial roads close by.
