Dialog helps design Seneca College’s health and wellness centre

Rendering by Tango Studio, courtesy Dialog.

Toronto’s Seneca Polytechnic College has selected consulting engineering firm Dialog to pre-design its new health and wellness centre with Two Row Architect, based on Indigenous, sustainability and inclusion principles.

The recently revealed design for the multi-storey complex, which will transform the old sport centre at the east end of Seneca’s Newnham Campus draws inspiration from the medicine wheel, features a central Dewe’igan drum circle courtyard with fire pit and emphasizes green building practices, including mass timber, rainwater harvesting, solar and geothermal energy, renewable construction materials and a green roof. The centre will incorporate recreation, traditional medicine, counselling, varsity sports and student federation facilities.

“There are a number of big ideas that have inspired this design,” says Dialog partner Craig Applepath. “One is the ‘architecture of reconciliation,’ providing a gateway for students to imagine what the future Canada might look and feel like. Another is a truly environmentally responsible building, with plans for net-zero carbon and sustainable mass timber.”

“The circular design, signifying a drum, demonstrates the centre will provide a holistic healing approach within the lives of the students, based on Indigenous ways of seeing, understanding and being in the world,” says Two Row design lead Erik Skouris. “All programs radiate from this centre and have a direct connection to it.”

Subject to provincial government approval, the demolition of existing facilities is slated for this winter, with completion of the new building expected in 2026.

Rendering by Tango Studio, courtesy Dialog.