University of Toronto Buildings - William G. Davis Building (or South Building)

William G. Davis Building (or South Building)

The University of Toronto Mississauga (UTM) is situated by the west bank of the Credit River. This made it an idyllic location to start constructing what architect Raymond Moriyama called the "UTM Campus Master Plan" in 1967. That year, the North Building was created as a temporary academic facility which marked the beginning of Erindale College. As this building was only meant to serve as a temporary shelter, Moriyama originally thought that there would be one central building that would hold all academic facilities, thus preserving the natural state of the campus. The idea of creating this "mega-structure" lead to the development of the South Building. It was then constructed, and in 1973, the South Building was opened on the UTM campus. Since then however, the South Building has undergone major reconstruction.

UTM has experienced "a period of rapid growth with an enrolment increase of approximately 71%." With such a significant increase in the population, the campus had to naturally meet the demands of this growth. Five buildings have been constructed from 2000 to 2007 in order to support this growth, one of which have been an extension onto the South Building: the Recreation, Athletics and Wellness Centre. Another major building that was constructed in 2006, to facilitate such change was the Hazel McCallion Academic Learning Centre (HMALC) which now functions as a library. Prior to this, the second and third floor of the South Building were used as the campus's library. With the creation of the HMALC, 5,800 square meters became free to expand the building further. A "phased approach" was taken for the renovations as this allowed them to tackle the re-allocation and construction of the South Building sequentially. According to Kearns Mancini Architect inc., the firm that took on the first phase of renovations for South Building, the project was valued at $6 million. They renovated 32,000 square meters of the building, and completed it in 2009.

Kearns Mancini converted the library into a space for extra classrooms, faculty, and administrative offices. Both Departments of Sociology and Geography, campus police services, and offices for executive faculty have been allocated to this section. The architects renovated with the goal of achieving a LEED Gold rating. This led them to put environmental sustainability at the forefront of their architectural design. The renovated portion of the South Building exploits natural light as a way to further the model of environmental sustainability. There are domed skylights to increase the amount of sunlight in the building as well as clerestory skylights which are designed to trap in heat for the winter, and keep heat out for the summer. These environmental innovations are a reflection of UTM's "Grow Smart, Grow Green" mentality.